Sweet Dreams Star
by PastellPop
Summary: Akaito has an ability to control people's dreams, which he's never told anybody. He meets a girl Haku who's a bit sad and decides to give her sweet dreams to make her happier. Eventually, they meet a fairy named Lapis in a dream, who awakens their powers to protect the dream realm from evil fairies. Mostly takes place in a fantasy world. Haku x Akaito, Luka x Teto.
1. Akaito and Haku

**This fanfic is currently on hiatus, it seems. I'll also focus on imroving chapters I've already written.**

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**Note: **this story has flaws. Aside from considering giving up on it, I've also considered rewriting it sometime in the future. But trust me, the plot gets more exciting at a certain point. It's mostly my writing style in the first few chapters I don't like, but since I've gotten far in this story, I'll keep adding on to it the way it is. So what I'm trying to say is basically, this story might/will improve as it goes on and I become a better writer.

* * *

**Akaito's P.O.V.**

I don't dream.

No, I don't mean the kind of dream that can be called "aspiration", or wishing. I mean the kind of dreams people have at night. Those weird illusions that are sometimes joyful and sometimes terrifying, but almost always strange or surreal. Well, of course if you actually dream, then you know what I mean.

I've never had a single one. Of my own, at least.

When I sleep, I wake up in somebody else's dream. And believe me, I've seen quite a few mind-blowing things.

Only I'm not physically there. I'm more like in a mode where I'm on the outside, controlling their dream. This might sound really impossible, but when I'm asleep I have a vision in some sort of multicolored star-patterned dome and I see dreams of people I know floating above me. From there, I can kind of "enter" a dream and do things with it.

I know how to make quite a few things happen, but not everything. Some things just take way too much imagination. I could make a plant appear, but maybe not a planetarium.

I do know that I'm actually controlling what they dream. Because when they wake up, they tell me what a strange dream they had and it's exactly like the dream I made them have.

Well sure, sometimes I control my brother Kaito's dreams and have him dream about lots of ice cream. Since ice cream is his favorite thing and sometimes I just want to be nice.

But you know what I like to do even more? Give people nightmares. Okay, I'm joking. Okay, I do it sometimes anyway. Maybe they're not the nightmares that will traumatize them for life, but just really freaky ones they'll wake up from and go "what the heck was I dreaming about?" Because that's always funny. I used to give my brother Taito a lot of scary dreams, and I think it made him into who he is today.

Okay... but the actual truth is, I've given people some horrible nightmares in the past. Just to mess with them. I was kinda cruel. But that was a long time ago. I've kind of matured out of messing around with these powers, they don't really have any use. Now when I sleep, I ignore the starry blue dome I see and just sleep the vision away. Usually when I do that, I end up going several more nights without having that vision in the first place.

And obviously, I've never told anyone about this. They'd never believe me anyway.

I usually just tell them that I don't dream.

* * *

It's just another normal day at school.

It's pouring down rain and it hasn't been letting up in the slightest. The classroom is packed with chattering kids all wearing raincoats and jackets over their cardigan uniforms even though it's late April. There's a pigtail fad going around and many of the girls are wearing them, and it's hard to find a guy these days who isn't reading the new manga series. (I admit, it's a pretty interesting one.)

I tried standing out just a little bit more so I wear a habanero-pepper charm on my collar. I hope isn't doesnt make me look stupid or anything, but it was mostly peer pressure that drove me into itーI just feel a little too plain sometimes that's all.

I live in the town of Kimagure, it's a small town, which explains all the fads gojng through it. There's a lot of wildlife around to see, and it rains a lot in the spring. Rain kind of irritates me, but that's just me. Some people love it. Kimagure is filled with these kind of people, nature-loving and optimistic.

I'm just kind of chill. But I guess I get agitated easily. Especially right now, when I'm sitting in final periodーmath (which I hate). Right about now, the bell is about to ring, and I am ready to get out. I've got my bag out on my desk, it's messy but whatever. The clock is so slow and it's really ticking me off. (no pun intended)

As you can see, I'm not that fond of school. Of course I don't want to be dumb, but school just a hassle, it's barely even "learning". Mixed in with my life of having five younger brothers and a sister, it's just much too slow and time-consuming. And depressing, since I don't really get along with most of the people here. Well, Len's pretty cool, he's just in a lower grade and would rather hang out with my brother Kaito. And Yuuma's okay, but he seems to care more about hitting on girls than he does about talking with me. I'm not exactly crazy about girls. No wait, I'm just fine with GIRLS, it's the romance I don't care about. I don't really get it.

The bell rings, and even though everyone else is faster than me, I grab my red backpack snd eagerly bolt out of the classroom as well... until snappy Ms. Sakine calls me back.

"Mr. Shion Akaito, I'm sorry." she holds up her hand to me. "But you have to make up this trigonometry test you failed."

Ms. Sakine sternly holds up a blank test and presents it to me. I remember now. It's that torture test I got a 42% on because I didn't care to study!

My mouth falls open. No... no! I can't go home and have my free time! I usually get home an hour before anyone else in my familyーmy hour of precious solitary free time. But now it seems like today, it's gone.

Darn, and today was the day I needed it the most!

Ms. Sakine gives me the test, leaves the room, and kicks the door closed behind her.

I disdainfully walk back into the classroom and sit in a random desk across from the only other person in the room; a quiet girl with long white hair who I don't really know. She has a large black ribbon tied in her hair, a large blue ribbon on her white uniform, and a bit of a lonely look in her eyes. We've only been in school for three weeks, it's normal not to know who everyone is yet.

But this girl seems especially distant, not just from me, but from the whole class. I do notice that she's usually absent. Come to think of it, I've never even heard her speak before...

I don't even notice I'm sitting by this girl until she gives me uncomfortable looks, as if she's being shy. She's fidgeting and looking away from me whenever I happen to glance, as if she can read my next movement.

I suddenly feel like I'm bothering her. I can tell she's likely the shy type who can't really have anyone sitting with her when the feeling in the room is this tense. I know because I understand the feeling perfectly. I mean, it's so silent and vacant in here that I can hear the rain drumming on the roof outside.

But I can't bring myself to get up and move to ease the tension. What would she think? It would feel awkward and... rude.

So to break the frigid mood just a bit, I smile at her. It's just a little passing-by-type-of smile. I hope it doesn't look too cheesy or anything... I don't usually smile at people.

Her eyes expand for a split second before she lowers her head down. Her long bangs are now completely covering her upper face so I can't see the look in her eyes. She seems really shy.

Even a bit sad...

Or rather, like something is bothering her. I hope she isn't being bulliedーI don't tolerate that kind of stuff. So to try to help her out a little...

"Hey." I say, cringing because my voice sounded a bit more awkward than it needed to. "Do you need... any help on the test? Don't worry, Ms. Sakine's out of the room. We won't get in trouble."

I'm not the one for any sort of school help (especially not math), but what else could I say?

The girl doesn't budge from her disposition, but seconds later, I see she's nodding a bit. I guess just to be polite.

I look down at her test. We're both on that problem with the dumb unit circle and the right triangles. Problem is, I barely even can figure them out...

She's still tucking herself away and I become concerned...

"What's wrong?"

The question flies out of my mouth clear and consolingly.

The girl shakes her head.

She's stubborn. I can still tell that something's wrong. I decide to ask more gently.

"What is wrong? You can tell me. I want to help..."

I have no idea where those words came from, but they were indeed true. I liked to help people in need I guess. I just never got the chance to before, really.

I can hear her sigh, she's fidgeting with her pencil again. Suddenly, in a shaky voice, she speaks.

"I... wish I weren't alone."

My eyes fall wide open. She sounded like she was about to cry and a part of me couldn't bear it.

"Because no matter how much I try to change myself and make friends, it never works... I wish I had a friend who I could make smile and help out, but..."

The girl's voice cracks a tiny bit and I hear her sniffle.

"But the only thing I do is fail tests like this, and mess up everything... All I ever wanted was just to have a friend. Someone who treats me with kindness and I can treat kindly in return. That is my wish, and it never came true..."

After she finishes talking, she wipes her eyes with her school uniform's long sleeve. I see her tremble a little bit, hiding her face below where I could see it, wiping her eyes more.

I feel my heart soften. It was as if... she had just poured her heart out.

Did she pour her heart out?

To me?

I'm dead in my tracks... I want to comfort her. But I don't know how. All I know how to do is say words.

I take a deep breath and try to answer.

"Then... all you have to do is not believe you truly are alone."

My voice echoes throughout the quiet room. I look at her face, it's still hidden under her bangs, but I want for my words to reach her.

"Because... if you open your eyes, you'll see... you'll see tons of friends around you if you just believe you have them!"

I barely even understand what I'm saying. I wonder if I even helped and I suddenly feel so... pathetic.

I still can't see the girl's eyes, but I see her mouth open a bit. The silence consumes the room and I hear the rain falling even harder.

I speak again.

"Because... from now on..."

I brace myself. I'm about to say something I never thought I'd say in a hundered years.

"..._I'll be your friend._ I'll stick with you, okay? Promise."

My face instantly turns a little red. I sounded so... unlike myself. I just hope I was able to console her.

Surprisingly, the girl lifts her face to me in a bashful way. Her eyes are large and she appears to be a little bit shocked with what I said. I instantly feel a little bit better.

I notice her pupils; they're dark red, just like mine. It's easy to notice because red eyes aren't really common.

Slowly forming her face, is a subtle expression of gratitude. I see it in her wide eyes.

I'm not used to such an expression being directed towards me.

I... feel a little good inside.

"So... what's your name?" I ask her.

"Yowane..." she says quietly, in a shaky voice. "But... you can call me by my first name, Haku, if you want."

"Okay... than you can call me by my first name, Akaito." I kindly say back.

Haku still seems a little shy. She opens her mouth, but no words come out.

"Um... if you need help, then I'll try to help you, okay?" I offer.

"Okay..." Haku says in a small voice.

I wonder what else to say to her.

"By the way, 'Haku', it's an odd name. Not like it's bad. It's kind of cool." I say, trying to change her mood and take her mind off her problems,

"Well, Akaito is also an odd name." Haku smiles suddenly. I roll my eyes just a little at her but soon I find myself laughing a bit. I'm glad she's smiling. Even though it is at my funny name. She has a nice smile.

"My name is written with the kanji for white." she says, opening up a bit more.

White, huh. It did fit her pretty well. It was the color of her hair after all, and it was a quiet color just like her.

"My name is written with the two kanji for red, and thread." I say in response. "It's a little bit embarrassing, since a red thread is the symbol of love... I'm not into that stuff at all."

"But that means... we both have color names." Haku says, a little bit amused.

"Hey, you're right."

I feel a bit closer to her already, as if a certain warmth had crawled through us.

As soon as it feels comforting in here, Ms. Sakine comes back in the room.

"Shion, Yowane! Quit talking and do your work!"

She yells before she slams the door again.

Oh crap! We totally forgot we were supposed to be doing work!

* * *

After school, we walk home.

The rain lets up only for this hour. The sky is still overcast and the atmosphere is a somber grey. A small bit of melancholy lingers in the air, and I realize it's because I'm unsure if I made Haku truly happy back there.

She's walking on the other side of the slide walking path from me right now. She's the type who looks at the ground when she walks. Once again, her bangs are covering her face, making her look even more secluded.

I silently wish for her to be able to open up. I just can't think of what to say.

I find out Haku lives nearby me because our paths don't part long after we start our walk from the building. Eventually, we end up talking again.

"So, um. Didn't you say something about wishing you could make people smile?" I ask her curiously.

Haku notices I'm trying to talk to her and nods shyly after a few seconds.

"It is my dream, I guess I could say. Just to be able to make the world a better place. For years, I've dreamed I've doing it. But one day I guess I just grew up and realized I couldn't. The real world... it doesn't work the way it did in my dreams. It takes more than just little smiles to truly change anything..."

"Oh..." I sigh a tiny bit. I can understand how she feels.

But she just said the word "dreams". The word "dreams"...

I feel an idea come to me suddenly.

"Well than, that doesn't mean you should give up on your dream." I say to Haku. "It can happen. Smiles can come from many things after all. And who knows, maybe you can change the world with a smile.

"...Thanks." Haku utters after a pause. She's still carrying her umbrella over her head even though it isn't currently raining. I notice she's twirling the thing a little. I guess it's how she fidgets.

Her house is before mine. It's quaint and has a gentle atmosphere around it. It must be all the lavender growing in the fields at the front, or how so much of her house is a soft white.

Right before she leaves, the light rain returns and shrouds everything in silver.

"It'll get better." I say to her after I wave goodbye. I'm unsure of if she heard or not.

Anyway, I had a plan.

* * *

That night, I thought a bit about Haku. We were friends, right? Friends? I think that's the word. That's a bit of a new word for me.

Having a friend feels... kind of strange and new. But good.

She seemed like an interesting girl, even though she was a bit sad and I truly wish she wasn't. But it also really seemed like she liked cats and I was a bit surprised to hear she didn't have a pet. She had a kitten-themed backpack, and had doodled small kittens and stars all over her math test after all. (Haha. She even slacks off on work like me. That's cool.)

But wait... a vision comes to me. It's the bluish dome with the star patterns... I'm suddenly floating, and the tip of the ceiling resembles the starry sky at night. It's the place I call the dream chamber! From here, I can enter any dreams footing around the space and control them.

I realized I had been sleeping the whole time as I thought about Haku. Since I was thinking about her first and foremost, the closest dream floating above me is hers.

I wonderingly peek inside, curious concerning what kind of things Haku would dream about. I remember my plan from earlier. Now if my powers could still work...

I bring the vision closer to me. Sapphire blue water stretches out until there's the horizon, and the sky is a delicate periwinkle. It's the ocean.

I'm looking from Haku's point of view, seeing the landscape through a house window which is covered in gradient-blue jewels. In fact, blue stones and jewels decorate the room around which was a pearly white. She must've been in a building that was floating in the middle of the sea!

I escape Haku's point of view and roam my vision around the landscape. The outside of the building is a light blue and is decorated with shells. This building is a skyscraper, rectangular and jetting out from the clear water. It's a unique, elegant structure, patterned with a lot of swirls and similar imagery. It looks like kind of like a strange hotel.

In the middle of the sky, I see a gigantic silver circle that almost stops my heart. It's glowing, illuminating the entire sky. It's the moon! It's so huge I can see every dark shimmering crater and even it's texture, like a titanic-sized pearl. I'd say it's even taking up a fraction of the sky, it's so huge.

After I marvel at the sight, I return to Haku's point of view. Her dream is interesting and soothing so far; I decide to stay for a while.

But when I look through her eyes, I notice suddenly that she's crying.

Tears begin to clog her vision. Suddenly the fantastic surroundings don't matter a bit. She's curled up in a dark blue corner and she's sobbing. I somehow get the vision of Haku being a lonely princess, trapped alone in her huge water castle, surrounded by jewels but with nobody to talk to.

I think about earlier in the day, and feel that the dream must be reflecting her mood. She's crying because she's lonely. Even though it's a dream, the emotions are from real life. They're from her poor heart.

She's hopelessly alone.

_But I can control dreams._

I was going to chase Haku's sadness away. I was going to remind her that she has friends. If I keep doing this the nights she needed, it'll purify her heart little by little.

I think about exactly how to pull this off. I can't create a human being to console her. Not only does it take too much imagination, but a human being just can't be replicated in a dream. I think of an alternative.

A cat.

Haku really likes cats, doesn't she? A kitten would be the perfect thing to warm up her heart.

I use my imagination to create a tender white kitten. I place it down one of the wide hallways and it scurries to the edge into the entrance of the room. The kitten curiously peeks it's small head out from the corner and gives a sweet mew.

"Meow!"

The sound makes Haku lift her head, brush the tears from her eyes and look around.

"Who... who's there?" I hear her voice ask.

She gets up and wanders around the room, of which I can see now in even more detail. It has such a mystical feel to it.

The cat walks out from the hallway into the room Haku is standing in. The small white puffball runs to her legs and playfully rubs its face on Haku's feet once it sees them.

"Oh..." Haku gives a cheerful giggle.

"Meow!"

The girl kneels down to pet the kitten, it stands there sweetly and begins to purr as it gets its fur stroked kindly by Haku.

I can tell she's is really happy now. She likes cats, and white's her favorite color, right?

Haku picks up the kitten, carries it back to her spot and the cat curls in her lap and purrs.

"Aww..."

And now, instead of being in tears, Haku is smiling. And the moment is picturesque.

But suddenly amid the perfect peace, there is a loud crash and other things begin to shake and shift. The azure scape all around her begins pounding. Glasses from shelves fall and shatter with a dissonant noise. Suddenly, it looks like the building is sinking deep into the sea. It's a terrifying vision and even I feel uneasy. My blood is pounding inside of me like the roaring of the disaster itself.

I hear yells coming from Haku. A nightmare is coming to ruin her peaceful dream!

The sea hotel-thing was sinking. How was I supposed to save Haku from this? My imagination's limits stopped when an object was this large; too large to fit in my vision...

Fit into my vision... that's it!

I could trail far enough our of sight for the entire building to fit into my scale of vision. Then from there, I'll be able to make it levitate back out into the surface!

"Zoom out..." I think to myself. It works, this structure is becoming farther and farther out of my vision. Soon it will all be visible...

Soon... yup, soon. Any time now...

It doesn't work! No matter how far I zoom out, the building is too tall to be in my frame of vision at one.

How tall was this building? Right now it seemed to have hundreds upon hundreds of floors. It's more like a beam than a building. Goodness, I hope there's elevators in there! Or else!

Oh, it's much too tall... my imagination would never work on it.

But as I'm about to give up, the white cat I created minutes ago jumps out from the water. My mouth falls open. Who knew that cat was a super-kitten!?

"Meow!" it says, suspending itself in midair. For a second, it looks like it has the ability to levitate... wait, that's it!

"Do you have to power to levitate things?" I ask the cat.

With another meow, the little kitten nods at me excitedly.

Everything becomes still. The cat closes its starry-blue eyes, faces the tower with an intense concentration and... wow! Everything lifts out of the water!

I feel dumbfounded. Did I imagine this myself? Or is it this kitten I created doing things on its own?

Either way, Haku was now saved from her sinking building, provided that of wouldn't start to sink again.

The cat meows at me once again and floats all the way back to the hotel. It's a long distance, but it makes it back in a quick bit of time.

I change my vision back to Haku's point of view. She's worriedly pacing the glossy corners and corridors of her room, calling for her cat. But just as her eyes become a bit misty again, the cat jumps up and lands into her arms.

"Oh, there you are! My kitten..."

Haku delicately rubs the kitten's soft neck, and the cat curls up in her arms and yawns.

"Aww..." she squeals again.

"Myeeah." the kitten squeaks too. It almost looks like it's grinning.

I spot a music box laying on the floor near them, and for the final touch, I make it play a soothing tune. It wraps up the entire scene in a special feeling.

It's a rather endearing scene. Too much cuteness for me. But everything is good again at least. It's time to leave now.

I smile because my work here is done. I turned Haku's nightmare marathon into a sweet kitten dream, so now I can finally drift back off to sleep...

But it's hard to. I'm curious about the land Haku was dreaming about. It felt so realistic, yet surreal. I've never felt anything much like it, not even in another person's dream.

Haku's imagination must be incredible. Either that, or this is a place she's actually been before...


	2. Friendship

**Akaito's POV**

* * *

Right before I wake up out of the dream mode, I have this weird vision.

It was blue again... But it wasn't a blue, starry dome.

A void was around me, almost looking like a deep still ocean... and in the middle of my eyeshot, there's a single azure light.

"Am I... drowning in that sea?" I automatically think.

I hear whispering. It's airy and inconspicuous and I can't make it out... I can't even make out a voice within the whisper.

Just a single, echoing wisp...

When I wake up, my room is blue.

And that's normal.

There's so much red to my room. But before the sun rises, it always looks so blue, as if it were some underwater chamber.

Now that I've woken up, it's hard to go back to sleep...

And what do you know? Suddenly time whooshes by and I'm going to gosh darn school already, and it's _still_ raining. Puddles had expanded since yesterday, almost becoming something like a mini flood.

I hate carrying an umbrella so I pull a raincoat over my uniform and the hood over my head and hope for the best. The walk to school isn't that long, it's only... ten minutes at most. If I run, it'll take even less time.

My brother Kaito isn't here. I found out earlier this morning that he caught a cold. He was coughing and sneezing yesterday if I do recall. Apparently some nasty bug is going around. Taito's in junior high which starts an hour later (lucky), and the rest of my brothers are even younger.

I think I made a mistake of running to school without an umbrella, because soon my face is soaked.

"Great..." I think sarcastically. It's like taking a shower. I sprint and it's like buckets are being dumped on me.

Once I finally dash into the building, one of the school staff is standing right at the doorway, handing out towels for all the kids to dry themselves off. I take four.

I walk inside the school dripping wet with towels on my head and body. Haku's sitting in one of the benches in the bright lobby, waiting for it to start. She always looks so serene, absorbed in her thoughts, silent and secluded. She looks like she's in a good mood today. And that relieves me.

I see her when she smiles a bit at me, so I go over to talk to her. I don't have anything else to do.

"Oh, you're soaked." she says, trying to hide laughter. "Why didn't you bring an umbrella?"

I'm still gasping from my run through the torrents of rain.

"I feel dorky with an umbrella." I say. "Umbrellas make me think of little girls playing in the puddles..."

Haku giggles a bit. "I like umbrellas. They're pretty."

We're obviously a lot different, but I don't really mind. I appreciate how easygoing and nice she is. Her mood is almost glowing now. Even though it's gloomy and raining so brutally outside, it's almost like a certain sky is now clear.

"Um, Akaito. If its still raining hard outside when school ends, maybe you can borrow mine. I brought two." she kindly suggests.

"Oh, no thank you!" I reject a bit too strongly. "But... why did you bring two?"

"Because," she says, "I adore the rain, and I have two umbrellas I love equally. One is orange with little kittens, and the other is purple with little bunnies. You can choose any one you like. I'll even let you keep it."

Oh no, heck no!

"No!" I yell at her. But I'm laughing. "Haha, you think I want a colorful umbrella with bunnies and kittens!?"

Haku's face sinks a bit and I'm worried that I hurt her feelings.

"But they're cute." she says in a small voice.

"Um... since you obviously love both of them, I'll just let you keep 'em, okay?" I say to her, rubbing the side of my head.

Haku appears satisfied with my suggestion and drops the umbrella topic. Whew.

But then, unexpectedly, she jumps on talking about the subject of dreams.

"Akaito... do you ever have dreams that are really great?" she asks, in a longing tone of voice. "Do you have dreams that are so good, that you become dissappointed once you wake up?"

Darn. She put me right on the spot.

"Hmm..." I respond.

"Not... exactly. I guess I just don't have the kind of mind that dreams a lot..." I shrug indifferently.

"Oh." Haku says. She seems a little bit disappointed.

"Well, last night, I dreamed I had a cat. She was adorable and very sweet. Since she was white like a snowball, I named her Snowbell. I've always wanted a cat of my very own..." Haku sighs. "That's why I was dissappointed with I woke up."

I keep listening, but nothing. What about the amazing world? What about the intricate water building in the midst of the vast clear sea, and the moon? Could she not have remembered that portion of her dream?

For some reason, she doesn't talk about it. I try to keep the conversation going anyway.

"Oh, that's great. I knew you've always wanted a pet, so I just..."

I instantly clamp my mouth shut... I almost gave away my own secret!

"N-n-never mind. I mean... I just thought that really was the kind of dream you'd have, Haku."

Haku smiles at me.

She has a nice smile.

* * *

In biology class, we're watching a boring and horrible educational movie made in the eighties or something. It's about cell division, yawn. The narrator's monotone voice drones on and on, the corny music grates on my ears, and the lazy kids in the back are instantly falling asleep. I'm a lazy kid too, only I'm just sitting in the front instead of the back.

My eyelids can't stay up... Soon I find myself dozing off, slowly...

I don't notice when I fall fast asleep, because I'm unconscious of course. But the next thing that goes on in my head is the steady, mystic appearance of the dream dome.

First I see the stars pattern's white light, the lines between them spread until they become the shape of a dome... the room lights up and I finally see the silver stone-like material the strange chamber is constructed from.

I'm sitting in midair rather than laying, probably from the position I'm happening to be sleeping inーsitting up in a school desk.

But that's still not the only reason why the dream dome looks a little different this time. It looks even more mystical and the stars aligning the interior are glowing even brighter. It almost looks like it's aglow with...

Magic?

I look up and a breathtaking vision is playing out high above me. Floating above me like a flittering square sheet is a vision of another world. It's a sublime jade forest that almost looks enchanted.

I'm not exactly a beholder of beauty, but it baffles me. Where could this vision be coming from? I've never before witnessed a land so peaceful at first glance. It almost reminds me of Haku's dream from last night...

Wait... Haku's a lazy kid too... had she also fallen asleep from the movie? This could be her dream, right?

The trees were a smooth and opalescent green-amber, and on the branches were the same familiar jewels from last time, but only in green.

The sun was either setting or rising, I don't really know. A rich amber tint covered everything.

I'm seeing through the eyes of a wanderer, somebody who's curiously wandering through the woods. In this person's vision, I see their feet within their eyesight every now and again as they swiftly walk. They're barefoot. I see the bottom hems of a flowing cloud-colored garment trail in and out of vision. It must be a girl, walking barefoot in a long white dress.

It's Haku. It must be her. This must be her dream.

Enchanted-looking animals are scattered along the trees, scarlet foxes, colorful butterflies, and unique flowers...

I suddenly hear whispering... I listen closely so I can make out the words...

"Useless... she said I was useless..."

The words hurt me. Is Haku having another nightmare about being alone?

A stream runs through and I see that the girl dips into it, walking along the banks, sighing with the pleasure of being away from it all.

"Why am I not like all the others?"

Suddenly as she speaks, she falls into a deep underwater ditch. With a loud shriek, the water slips past her feet and I momentarily see her vision submerged in the water. Strong currents instantly grab hold of her and sweep her over the edge to a waterfall... no! I recognize the yelling voice... trails of white hair as she floated down... I can confirm it, it is Haku again!

Right before she goes over the waterfall, I cause a magic colorful flash of light to ignite around her... and suddenly Haku sprouts strong white wings lined with gold and jewels.

Instantly, the wings fly her up into the golden skies, with her looking and marveling at the view of the paradise below.

"Woooow..." I hear Haku marvel at the sight in her own dream.

It's an understatement to say that I am also being sucked away by it too.

"I can fly..." I hear her say.

"I can finally fly, I can finally soar... just like the others."

Huh? The others?

Never mind that, but what's with all the crystal buildings sticking up out of that sea? The rainbows shining over the mountain... I see autumn trees ahead, but spring trees are in the acre right besides it. In a section above the spring trees, the snow is falling and everything is colored white.

Once again, Haku's world didn't cease to amaze me.

Butterflies are flying around her. One of them opens it's tiny, tiny mouth and begins to sing in the broad, beautiful voice of a tenor opera singer. The other butterflies soon sing in unison.

And the tiniest butterfly way in the back opens its mouth. I expect it to have the shrill and airy voice of a soprano... well, either that or it was going to sing bass. But it ended up being neither.

"BEEEEEEEP."

Aw man, that butterfly has a terrible voice!

"BEEEEEEEEP.

Wait a minute, that sounds like... the school bell.

"Unfh!" I promptly lift up my head. The yellow light of the school building burns my eyes and I see the students all packing up and leaving class. The dream is gone. I didn't even get to say goodbye to it.

On the other side of the room, I see Haku stretching over her desk like a kitten, looking as if she just woke up from an incredible dream.

I smile at her. She doesn't see my smile, so I walk out to next period class.

Aaand Yuuma annoyingly runs to me and bops me in the arm.

"Yo." he says. "You know, when you were sleeping? You and that really quiet girl on the other side of the room, the one who snores kinda like a little cat? Yeah, you two were making the exact same noises and weird movements in your sleep. It was funny! This must be fate for you two! Come on, ask her out!"

"NO. " I say. It was just because I was controlling her dream! It's more normal for me than it sounds. It sounds so horribly normal to me. Controlling someone's dream.

Yuuma can be obnoxious. Dating, dating dating. Does the guy ever get sick of talking and thinking about it? Ironically, he's never had a girlfriend before.

Still, I wonder about this land... it seems too beautiful and real to just be a spontaneous dream, especially for something Haku would dream up during a tiny nap in class.

But I do notice this, Haku has bad dreams about water a lot. I don't know, maybe it's because she needs to use the bathroom? I heard that it can make people have dreams about water...

Well, dropping that thought, will Haku ever tell me about this? And does she normally dream about a magical world?

* * *

After school, the rain thankfully lets up and only clear puddles are left on the ground. Haku and I walk home together. Her house is a little bit before mine, past the bakery and the little library. It's a smaller house but it has a nice spacious yard that looked like it was well-kept. Lavender flowers were blooming around the house as well.

We're a few minutes before that area though, still walking along the edge of the forest before the tiny plaza. That's when Haku starts to take a detour.

"Akaito." she says to me shyly. "I want to show you something. Just come."

Haku strays from the path and walks into the clearing of trees, leading me me into a treeless area I've never noticed before. There's nice grass and a bench at this clearing, flowers and everything, even a small stream running through it. I've never even noticed the stream. One could sit at this bench and be fully surrounded by the nature Kimagure town had to offer.

"This is my favorite place." Haku says, looking beyond the trees in the distance. "I go here when I feel lonely and it cheers me up. Now since your my friend, I'm showing you this secret place."

It's awfully serene here. Very soothing. It is in the middle of nowhere but it has an atmosphere almost like nothing I've ever felt.

She slowly sits down the somewhat mossy bench and crosses her legs all comfy. I soon follow.

I suddenly hear a small meow through the trees.

"Oh, Lavender!" Haku says excitedly.

The girl steps out of her bench seat with a spring in her step, following the sound of the meow. A small grey kitten clumsily emerges from the trees and Haku approaches, delicately lifts the kitten in her arms.

"There there. How are you doing?" she says to the kitten, rubbing it under its neck.

"Meow." it mews again.

"Oh, Akaito. This is my kitten, Lavender. I found her a few months ago, she's a baby." Haku pauses. "Well, she's sort of my kitten. My mother won't let me keep a pet, but when I go here, Lavender comes out and plays with me. Sometimes I give her treats."

Haku sets her bag down, reaches into a compartment and pulls out a half-eaten sausage snack.

The hungry kitten sniffs it curiously and begins munching on it.

"Here, you eat the rest." Haku pats its head.

Haku breaks the sausage apart into small pieces to the kitten can eat it better.

I'm a little bit impressed. This girl has such a natural rapport with the animal.

Maybe she doesn't get along the best with other humans (neither do I), but with animals, Haku is almost like a mother towards them. So kind and caring...

It almost makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"Haku, it seems that you really like this cat."

"Ah, yes." Haku nods sheepishly. "Lavender is my friend. My very dear friend... she's helped me cheer up many times when I've felt sad. Haven't you, Lavender?"

The kitten meows again, almost as if they're communicating with each other.

"I don't have many friends." Haku tells me. "It's a shame, because I think friendship is such a beautiful thing. I only with I could experience it more often..."

Haku wistfully gazes into the sunset, covered by the leaves of the trees. I can't help but think this place looks familiar... but to where?

"Haku..." I say. "I'm your friend. Don't feel sad."

I hope she isn't going to cry or anything. I'm terrible with that. After a pause, Haku turns around, the sunlight flittering into her smile.

"Thank you." she says, softly, fidgeting with her fingers.

She's really shy. She's a strange girl...

But somehow I feel strangely at ease with her, like the flow of time doesn't matter right now. Her personality is quaint and peaceful like the sunset. I think about things I don't usually think about.

"You remind me of my older brother a little." she says. "I haven't seen him since I was little. My parents divorced and my dad moved away with him, and I haven't seen either of them again... I really miss my brother. He was so kind."

"Oh..."

I feel genuinely sad for her. She said those words in such a wistful way. Slowly, I slip my hand into hers.

"I think you'll see your brother again someday." I say quietly, keeping with the thick silent atmosphere.

There's a pause.

"You think?" Haku replies softly.

I nod.

"Yes." I say. "I know you'll see him again one day."

"...thanks." Haku sighs.

Time pauses again.

The kitten is still lying on the ground, licking its paws as if they were a tasty snack.

We sit for a few more minutes until Haku speaks up about something different.

"Akaito... I-I've always wished to be friends with... w-with a girl in m-my class." Haku interrupts me out of my trifle bout of thinking. "Her name is Miku Hatsune... do you know her?"

Haku blushes and looks to her side, shuffling with her long fingers once again.

Miku... Miku Hatsune... I dig through my brain. Oh. Haku must be talking about that one girl who's always wearing pigtails. She's outgoing, but nice. She has a lot of friends but she's modest and treats all of them really kindly. Yeah, I can understand why Haku would want her as a friend. And doesn't Miku also like animals?

"Oh, I see." I say. "She is nice."

Haku nods. "Miku talks to me sometimes, she's always fun and she reassured me a few times when I was feeling down. Only, she doesn't talk to me that much. She's usually hanging out with Rin or Len or her other friends."

"Hm, well. Maybe you should just talk to her first." I say. "I do realize you may be a but shy, but most people aren't going to react the way you may envision if you just talk to them. Miku might end up being your friend the more you have the courage to start a conversation..."

Haku nods as if she's taking my advice. "Okay... I-I'll still be nervous, but... I'll try, okay Akaito?"

The kitten suddenly meows too, as if it were also cheering Haku on. Haku smiles at it and rubs its neck. The cat seems to like it.

"The sun's starting to go down." Haku says, leaving the bench. "Goodbye, Lavender."

The girl gives the kitten one more pat on it's head before leaving it peacefully. Haku makes way to the exit within the line of trees.

I follow her. I should be getting home too. I don't need my parents wondering where I am.

We walk silently with each other a few more minutes.

"Goodbye Haku." I say, right before the road splits and she walks down the path to her own house.

"Good luck."

Haku smiles and gives me a wave back.

* * *

That night, I force myself to think of Miku and Haku before I sleep. I know it sounds creepy, but it's how I'll ensure that I'll be able to control their dreams tonight.

I had a plan, I was going to make them friends through their dream. I'll just take Miku out, drop her in Haku's dream, have them be friends... and when they wake up, they'll continue the friendship in real life! It'll be perfect! And I won't have to give away my secret that I'm the one who controlled their dreams.

I'm always tired, so it only takes me mere minutes. When I drift off, things go just as planned. In the dream dome, I see two dreams floating above me and I instantly can tell that they're Miku and Haku's.

Miku is dreaming about being at a colorful candy store filled with lollipops and stuffed animals. Haha, I just knew the bubbly Miku Hatsune would be dreaming about something this.

Haku, on the other hand, is dreaming about being trapped in a chamber of unbreakable glass? It's beautiful but... terrifying. The building is absurdly tall again, so tall I'm dizzy just imagining it's possible height. Haku is trapped on one of the floors. The empty, flat room is made out of glass and Haku is hyperventilating as if she's been trapped for hours, pounding frantically but to no avail. If Haku were even to escape, she would fall for who-knows-how-many storiesーmost likely to her death. (I don't have experience myself, but I'm pretty sure I never want to die even in a dream.)

Okay, now what do I do?

Should I take Haku out and put her in Miku's dream? That way I'll rescue Haku...

Or should I take Miku out and put her in Haku's dream to ensure they'll befriend through being trapped together?

Obviously, I should rescue Haku and put her in the candy store!

...BUT, if I put Haku in the candy store, she and Miku might not notice each other. Because come on, the pop idol Galaco is performing in that candy store! With Galaco in there, the chances of Miku noticing Haku will be... well, low!

If I put Miku into Haku's dream, I won't be saving Haku. I'll put Miku in danger too. But they have a much higher chance of becoming friends! Miku surely would comfort Haku. A lot of great friendships start with being in a bad situation together...

But then again, a just-as-good friendship might start at a Galaco concert in a candy store! Augh, too much thinking for me!

But then I notice something... another girl's dream? A dream about sitting in a field filled with kittens? It's not Haku's, it's not Miku's... and the girl in the dream is our classmate, Rin Kagamine, Miku's best friend.

Oh! Thinking about Miku must've got be subconsciously thinking about Rin too, which is why her dream must be here! Kittens! Perfect! Time to take both Miku and Haku out, and put them in Rin's dream!

I focus my imagination, and poof! Miku and Haku fly out of their dreams! Into Rin's dream they go! Time for the girls to bond over petting kittens.

"Hey, Miku!" Rin calls out to her friend as she spontaneously appears by her side.

Haku lands in the dream too.

"Oof..." she says bashfully, seeing that Miku and Rin are there.

Well, the sky in the dream is light purple and stars are everywhere. The trees have yellow leaves. The flowers are dancing in the breeze, there's a brightly-colored building-block castle in the distance, and some poppy music is in the background. It looks like a cartoon. This definitely looks like a Rin dream.

Suddenly, I hear the chords of a boot-camp bugle echo in the broad air... oh no.

"Welcome to kitten-petting boot camp!" a loud, gruff voice booms all of a sudden. "NOW YOU GIRLS, YOU BETTER PET. THOSE. FLUFFIN'. KITTENS. NOOOOW."

The voice sounds so rude and demanding, but... petting kittens!? What.

"Oh no!" Rin says as she flails her long-sleeved arms. "Quick! You gotta run around and pet every single kitten! Or Captian Flufflepuff will be so mad at us! He'll have us fluff-inated!"

"Aaaaah!" Miku and Haku both scream as they stumble down the fields in unison, their hands brushing the soft-looking fur of the colorful kittens scattered across the field.

Soon enough, Miku, Haku and Rin are... huddled with the fluffy cats, laughing together.

"Quick, we haven't pet that one little kitten yet!"

"Oh!"

"Haha!"

They tumble down the hills together, among piles of sweet fuzzy cats.

I'm happy too, just looking at the three having fun. I decide to play with the dream a little...

I make one of the kittens wear a tuxedo and a mustache, magically float in the air, and start tap-dancing onto a piano as it plays a whimsical tune with its kitty feet.

"Ha, look at that!" Haku and Miku are now huddled together, watching the tap-dancing kitten.

I lift the other kittens up in the air, and make them fly through the arms of all the girls...

"Hey! They're flying into our hands!" Rin says.

"Haha, fluff attack!" Miku yells.

"Hey, now we're petting every single kitten!" Haku says, at the cats fly in and out of her embrace. "I guess we won't be fluff-inated now, right?"

After they had pet all the kittens, I make dresses appear on all the girls.

"Ooh..."

I'm no fashion designer, but I think a simple sparkling teal, orange, and purple dress for Miku, Rin and Haku respectively would look pretty nice on them. And it does.

"Wow, nice!" they all look at each other and marvel their looks in the dress.

"I look adorable!" Rin squeals. I specifically designed hers with super-long sleeves, since it seems she has a thing for them.

I make a giant piano appear under their feet and a lively tune plays as they step on the keys.

"Whee!" Rin twirls Miku and the rest of the cats start dancing too!

The kittens are all wearing tuxedos and umbrellas and begin to dance and twirl all around everyone, meowing to the song that's playing and tumbling and doing other sweet kitten things like wrestling with each other's paws.

"This is so awesome! Especially since I'm with two of my great friends!" Miku says blissfully.

Huh? Great friends? Great friends! Miku is friends with Haku after all!

And to be honest, I'm starting to creep myself out with this dream. Too fluffy. I'm getting the shivers.

Well, since I know my work here is done, so I lay still until my sleepiness drowns out the vision of the dream... I drift off asleep.

But as I sleep... something appears in my head.

It's the dream dome, but no dreams are in it. It's blurry and I'm having trouble focusing my vision...

Right before I pass out again, I see a single azure light...


	3. Lightning and Floods

**Haku's POV**

I believe magic is real.

I know those are childish words to come out of the mouth of a sixteen-year-old, but I really do believe something is out there.

Or at least I hope. I love magical things, like fairy tales, and stories where dreams come true. I've always wanted to live in such a world. I've always wanted magic so I can help people. My one secret dream is to make everyone in the world smile, but it always seems I do the opposite. It gets me discouraged, but I still try every day. Until somebody notices me, trying to make them smile... but because I fail so much, I often cry.

Magic would certainly be able to help me. That's why I hope that the dreams I have at night do mean something.

My dreams always have been fantastic, and it seems as if every one of them take place in the same fantasy world. People always think I'm crazy when I tell them about this. That's why I stopped recently.

My dreams are adventurous; buildings are hundreds of times as tall as skyscrapers, the sea is vast, clear, and filled with enchanting-looking fish. Islands float in midair and flying creatures like giant rainbow butterflies and winged rabbits roam the skies.

Sometimes I dislike my dreams thoughーthey can be flat-out scary. I've dreamed about being trapped many times, drowning even more-so. Even about falling into a vat of poison and having terrifying hallucinations until I passed out.

Other times, my dreams are simply wonderful. I cannot tell you how many beautiful sights I've envisioned in my sleep. Sometimes I don't even believe they're from my own mind; they're like nothing I could ever dream up.

And sometimes even I can fly. Usually when I know I'm dreaming, I can take off and fly away.

Lucid dreaming, have you heard of it?

Well, when you're inside a dream and you know you're dreaming at the same time, you have to power to take control of it and do whatever you want with it. You have power over your surroundings,

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true. It really works. It's not magic, but it's almost like magic. Only it's something that every human can do. You're only limited to what your imagination can do.

Sometimes my dreams aren't lucid, which means I'm dreaming without knowing I am in a dreamーtypical with most dreams.

And in the past month, my dreams have been odd. For one thing, almost none of them have been lucid. Second of all, they were usually nightmares, and third of all, they've been more realistic than they've ever been.

When they're nightmares, usually it's about me being bullied. Always by the same girl every night, someone I've never seen before in real life. My mind created this girl, she hates me... it's all just so strange. She has a bright yellow ponytail and is always wearing a rather pretty and long yellow dress. Only once have I seen her eyes up close, and when I did, they were yellow too.

My mind probably did this because yellow is my hated color. (I'm emetophobic and I've heard the color yellow can trigger nausea)

It feels like it's more than just that. Who is this girl? I feel like this question has to have an answer. Who is she?

Why does she hate me so much?

Especially in the dream I had in class the previous day. I dreamt that this girl, and a bunch of other people were fairies. Including me. But I was different from them because I couldn't fly, so she egged on me until I ran away crying...

But the dream ended so strangely. I was able to fly, and I was saved from a deadly waterfall. The view of the magical land from so high above entralled me. It was a bad nightmare, but at the same time, it was one of the best dreams I've had in a while.

* * *

It's finally Friday.

I'm sitting in the chair in the semi-crowded school lobby, waiting for Akaito. I'm going to tell him about my wish to help people. I only tell close friends about such feelings... friends who don't think I'll sound sappy or strange.

And if this keeps up, I might even tell Akaito about the dreams I have. I don't think he'll think I'm crazy. He's much too sweet for that.

But before I notice, I see Miku. She's heading right towards me with a smile on her round face. Why could she be running towards me?

"Haku! Rin and I had the exact same dream last night!" she says in a cheerful tone. "It had you in it! It was a fun dream, all about petting kittens!" Miku beams.

What?! I can't believe what she's saying. I happened to have had the exact dream last night!

My face lights up. "Oh my goodness... me too! In my dream, you, Rin and I were at a kitten-petting boot camp... but all we had to do was pet every kitten in the field! Then they started wearing funny clothes and dancing!"

"Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah!" Miku and Rin respond in unison. "That was in our dreams too!"

Miku screams. "This is so crazy! I didn't think having the same dream was even possible!"

"Well, I..." I was shy to admit, but I was feeling a special connection between Miku, Rin and I right now. Having the same dream and all...

"Miku, Rin... I think this means th-that we are d-d-destined to be... f-friends..." I shyly let the words out, unsure of what the girls will think.

I wanted to be friends with them so bad.

"Haha, me too, Haku!" Miku squeals.

My heart flutters. I smile...

"Come on, Haku!" Rin offers kindly, holding her hand out to me. "Let's walk around the school together this morning! We're all friends!"

Friends... all of us, _friends_.

I can hardly believe the word...

"Sure!"

Overjoyed, I trail right behind them with a shy yet true smile on my face.

Rin pulls out her favorite stuffed dog, Choco and let's me cuddle him. It's such a soft plush and if makes me happy. Miku let's me hold on to one of her pigtails as she walks, with Rin holding onto the other one. It's like holding hands, only with Miku's extremely long hair instead. I'm finally getting to do these things with friends!

I'm already enjoying being with Miku and Rin. I can't believe I'm now finally their friend...

Bit it doesn't hit me until later... I had forgotten about Akaito. My _best_ friend.

We don't have any of the same classes today, so we might not see each other.

I wanted to see Akaito today too.

* * *

When I get home, the house is empty.

I live with only my single mother, and she works on weekdays, some days for longer than others.

After I settle down, I sit in my bed and doodle a bit in a drawing pad. Mostly I doodle things like fantasy buildings and flowers, inspired by visions from my dreams. I'm about to pull out a movie, maybe. Just as soon as I make this tree detailed.

I stop drawing once my hand feels heavy. My entire body feels weak and heavy seconds later. Hm, that's strange. Maybe I'm thirsty or need sleep. I forget about the movie and walk downstairs to the refrigerator to get a drink. After that, I was going to try laying down.

As I walk through the house, I feel dizzy suddenly. The house suddenly feels ten times bigger. I put my hand to my head. I just feel woozy. I sit down in the nearest chair and close my eyes for a few seconds. Ughh...

Soon the heavy dizziness turns to nausea and I'm struggling to breathe without feeling as if I'm going to convulse. I feel my forehead. I'm hot. I'm shivering and sweating. I conclude that I'm not okay.

I walk out of the chair, this time to pull out some Tylenol or something...

What is this feeling...? I feel faint, so faint... I can barely walk straight.

Just a few more steps... I feel like I'm going to fa-

* * *

Oww, I can't move. I'm frozen... I'm so hot I feel like I'm being roasted. The pain is popping, as if it's boiling my very blood.

When I finally gain my senses back, I hear laughter. Grating, evil laughter.

I'm on the edge of a cliff, venerably on my side. My arm dangles down to the fall, hundreds of feet below.

The sinister yellow girl is standing right in front of me, electric shocks shooting from her hands. She's roasting me!?

Ouch, it still stings... it's incredibly painful. So painful I can't even cry out...

But the thing that hurts slightly more... this girl hates me. The fact that I'm being treated like this is even more painful. Why? Why does this girl hate me so...?

I see below the cliff, there's water. A whirlpool is forming many feet below. My pupils dilate and my breathing becomes frantic...

Another air-searing electric shock makes me shriek and lose my vision again, but I manage to hear a sinister voice through my lack of senses.

"You know what can conduct electricity? Water can!" they croon.

This yellow girl is now pushing me, and the electricity has me immobilized in a tight bind.

She kicks me. I sail through the air in an arch until I fall.

And fall.

And fall.

No... I'm falling off the cliff... I can't feel myself fall, but everything blurs around me...

I can't tell when I land in the water, but the pain grows even more.

I can see now. Water is all around me... a whirlpool. Something is swimming really fast in a circle, causing it...

Is it... a fish? It's the color of a salmon... it would have to be a really big salmon.

But soon I realize it's the color of someone's hair. I can make out their body, their dress is aquamarine-colored just like the water.

A different girl? I just know, she must hate me too...

"HEEEEELP!" I shriek underwater. It's no use. I'm going to die.

I have no breath. I'm drowning.

My voice cannot penetrate the rapid hard surface of the water.

My gurgling soon gets drowned out by a strong piercing voice, it sounds like a woman singing opera... is it the girl creating the whirlpool?

It's making the sea rumble and crash...

It gets higher and louder until...

An ambulance.

It sounds like an ambulance.

Things are shifting around me... it's pitch black. I realize that it's because my eyes are closed. I can't open them.

The shrill sound of an ambulance penetrates my sense of hearingーthe only one that's active.

My eyes flutter shut again...

* * *

"Haku... oh, Haku."

I feel a comforting touch of a warm hand on my shoulder. Everything is quiet and still... I'm laying in a bed but it doesn't feel like my own...

Everything is heavy and it's still hard to breathe... I feel okay now, just not exactly good,

I open my eyes after a while of being half-awake, and the first thing I seeabove me is my mother's worried, relieved face.

"Mom..." my mouth moves weakly. "Am I... at the hospital?"

My mom gives me a tight, emotional embrace, delicate as if I'm made of something extremely fragile.

"Oh, Haku. When I got home, you were on the floor unconscious." she says. "You weren't moving, you wouldn't respond and you were burning up so I called an ambulance...I now know it was just a bad fever spell, but you still terrified me..."

My mother hugs me again and the nurse comes in the room.

"Ah, so I see she's regained consciousness." the nurse says.

"We'll just have her stay in the hospital overnight until her condition improves. She may have caught a bad case of the nasty bug that's been going around lately. It's been more than just a cold, people have passed out and gone to the hospital just like her."

"Oh my..." my mother says.

I stay quiet. I hate having people worry about me. I feel like such... a burden to them.

I'm just relieved that those wicked girls in the dream weren't real.

Or were they?

* * *

**Akaito's POV**

Man, how I love my afternoon nap.

Goodness, how I live for my afternoon nap.

Gee, do I thrive for my afternoon nap.

Yeah, you get it, right?

I can lay in my room and fall asleep in a few minutes.

I usually just fall asleep just when my backside hits the bed. It's a real talent, I tell you. Either that or I'm just fatigued. But I'd rather think of it as being a talent.

Or sometimes it works against me. Because you know, I really shouldn't be sleeping after school like this.

But today it doesn't happen.

Haku hadn't talked to me today. She spent the whole day talking with Miku and Rin.

She likes them more than she does me, doesn't she?

Well, not that I blame her. It's only natural after all. Miku and Rin are girls, like her. They have much more in common then I ever would. Miku and Rin probably like kittens, and orange and purple animal umbrellas. Well, unlike me.

These thoughts saturate my head as I drift off to sleep.

Soon I see a dream.

It's snowing across a domestic landscape and it looks enrapturing, as if it were blanket dust covering every square inch. The snow decorates the scape, tiny piles left on branches and little flecks of it on every which surface, making it look like a rich winter scene out of a painting.

A sheep with wool as white and fluffy as the snowfall jumps over a fence with a lighthearted "baaaa". Then another one... then another... It's an entire number of sheep.

Counting sheep. What a peaceful little dream. I think it's Haku's. I'm sure this is Haku's point of view I'm looking through. Her dreams are aways beautiful like this. This one reminds me of her personality.

But suddenly as it sucks me into the peace, the sheep begin to warp in appearance. Their white fur turns dark and bristle... their faces become angry and mutilated and resemble the faces of evil demons from a cartoon.

A white streak of lightning rips the scene in half and all of a sudden, I see floating pants.

Yes, floating pants. Black pants with a purple stripe on the side, wait... those are Haku's favorite pair of pants!

"My pants!" I hear Haku's voice yell frantically.

Haku's bellbottom pants suddenly grow a realistic face in the place her bottom would fit.

"You can't ever catch me!" the pants say in a squeaky irritating voice.

They run in midair through the dark, warped scene. The sky is swirly and purple.

But suddenly, the sun shines again and Haku's pants arrive in a spotty, dotty little field that looks like it was sewn from fabric.

The fabric is in all sorts of patterns and all sorts of bright pastel colors.

Cushions are everywhere, and so are stuffed animals... wait, these are real animals! I mean, they're alive! They can move, but... they're stuffed animals. Little bunnies, teddy bears, and you guessed itーkittens.

"Haku! You're here!" they all cheer in their sweet little voices.

Haku jumps in the air to retrieve her pants, quickly putting them back on (I look away so I don't see her underwear...)

She blushes and kneels down to pat the animals. Aaw... a pink kitten purrs and a blue puppy lays on the ground comfortably.

But soon there's a yellow girl flying down, landing right in front of me. She's short but she stands as if she towers over me.

Her hair is yellow. Her dress is yellow. Her eyes are glowing sinisterly and they're yellow too.

"So, you think you're safe here?" she says. Her voice is sour and aggressive.

Before I can react, the girl crouches stylishly and she springs into a fantastic gravity-escaping backflip. While she's in midair, volts fly out from her and scatter like beams of light. When she lands on the ground, the entire terrain shakes and a thunderingly loud booming sound pounds through the air.

"And water conducts electricity." another sickly sweet voice says. She sounds sophisticated and even calm, so mannered that it loops back to being eerily intimidating.

I feel something falling out of the sky behind me. I mean, behind Haku. But the scene is so intense that I forget I'm merely looking through her eyes.

Haku turns around, and there she isーa woman who looks elegant and somewhat older than the other yellow girl.

Okay... so two fairly attractive women have literally fell out of the sky in front of me. I mean, in front of Haku. Wait, is this good or bad?

The shorter yellow girl has her hand to her hip and an electrifying look in her eyes. Her long yellow hair sticks up slightly, her gold eyes are slanted and her muscular legs are long, thin, and set apart in her proud stance. She's scowling, but soon grows a wide grin like a monkey's.

The girl with the salmon-pink-colored hair is taller with a thin, airy and cold appearance. She's wearing a flowing blue dress that reminds me of a moon jellyfish. Her eyes look like ice, as if one look and you'll be frozen within them. She gives the tiniest of grins and the tension it gives off is heart-stopping.

Why am I so intimidated? Oh, I'm intimidated because they look so evil... yeah... haha...

Oh crap.

Haku is shivering and shuddering. I'm seeing everything from her point of view and I can't see the expression on her face, but I can imagine the look of pure terror.

"Why, whyyy!?" she yells.

The two girls glance at each other, share a snicker, and look back.

"We have surrounded you."

The yellow girl does another backflip maneuver and the water girl begins spinning until she's encased in a whirlpool.

Thunder booms shoot across the floor and the entire room becomes burnt to a crisp. The pink-haired girl's water starts flooding everything and the electric shocks become deadly.

I hear crying.

"Not the animals... the poor innocent animals..." Haku cries, throwing herself down to the ground, not wanting to see the sight of the roasted, drowned animals that were happy and frolicking seconds ago...

Suddenly Haku snaps. I can feel the fire that must have went off in her eyes.

"You're gonna get it." she shouts. "YOU'RE SERIOUSLY GONNA GET IT!"

Wow, I've never heard her yell with such intensity. It sends shivers down my own spine. It makes me feel paranoid and sad for her... I oughta help her out, I am the dream controller after all!

But my imagination refuses to do anything... this scene is scary and intense that I can't focus on anything else besides my own sanity... what's wrong with me?

The water rises quickly and the strong water girl creates another whirlpool in the tall flood that becomes a rapid waterspout. The acrobatic lightning girl breaches out of the water and does an entire showcase of dynamic flips midair, sending bolts of lighting flying everywhere.

Before the lightning can harm her, Haku dives down and swims deep underwater... The water is massively deep, in fact, the ground is gone. The water's depth is endless... What is this?

When Haku surfaces for a deep breath, a strong operatic voice is heard singing above the water. It's the water girl, singing intensely. As her notes rise and fall, huge waves form on the surface of the water, rising and falling with her melodic song. She sings the grand finale of the sung notes, it is a beautiful high sound and shivers race down my spine. But that doesn't matter. It creates a dynamite wave that shoots from the waterscape, slamming Haku down, down under the water. She's shooting down like a stray bullet. She's so far under now, they'll be no hope for her to resurface alive...

The pink-haired water girl is carrying the smaller lightning girl in her grip as she swims swiftly to catch up with Haku. She releases the lightning girl from her hold, and the blonde does an underwater somersault, lightning exploding out. The water begins to boil and a gigantic flash penetrates the dull underwater color.

I focus greatly so I can finally control this intense dream. After the flash didn't harm Haku as much as I thought it would, the intimidation dies down. I can think clearer now. I can just envision picking up both of these evil women, stuffing them in a... a magic-proof bag... and sinking the bag deep in the water.

Yes, okay... I create this huge bag. Now I try to control the girls, but I can't. It's as if my imagination just doesn't work on them! They're not being affected at all. No matter how hard I imagine them just being crushed.

Wait, I have a plan. I create more bags. Now I create a huge serpent. I put a shield around Haku...

Doing all this at once takes a lot of my brain power, but I have to do this!

The serpent gives a roar and the girls are scared. Eventually, they huddle into one of the bags. Haha! I seal it up the bag, compress it, and make it sink down, down underwater. I put a heavy metal safe around the bag so that they really can't escape now.

I watch as the swiftly sinking dot becomes smaller and smaller...

But a huge thunderbolt still lingers... it's crackling, it's massive, and it's heading right towards Haku...

"No... no, Haku!" I scream in my mind. My protective instinct flies out of me! I want to protect Haku! I need to protect Haku! My first thought would be just to jump in... just jump in before her!

In the midst of my intense muttering, I feel my legs bend. I feel my arms shoot foward. My pupils dilate. My lungs contract. My mouth shoots open... I'm tumbling... I'm shooting ahead... I'm underwater, I'm right in front of Haku, I...

I've entered the dream myself!?

In seconds, my entire body convulses with the extremely painful sting of the bolt... it hurts like heck, but I'm fine. It was worth saving Haku. The bolt disappears.

Now I'm just floating in the midst of calm water. Haku and I are safe. I just wonder how I managed to actually enter the dream in the first place. I've never done this before.

But the problem now? Yeah... I can't swim. At all!

"Help! Help..." I gurgle because I forgot I was underwater.

I flail around pathetically and slowly sink. Wait... Haku is diving even deeper under now with the grace of a mermaid. She holds me in her arms and swims up with me. Still in her embrace, I am carried by her strong legs until we get to a platform that's above the water's surface.

Both of us gasp as if we haven't breathed in years. We tumble over the platform that feels like a wet mattress, gasping and wheezing.

"Haku..." I say between breaths. "It's me... this is a dream. I'll tell you everything later..."

Haku looks at me with wide eyes as she continues coughing.

In about a minute, I have enough air to tell her the story from the beginning.

"This is crazy, believe me though. I have the power to control dreams. I've been controlling your nightmares, making them into good dreams since that day I met you. I'm the one who did all the things with the kittens..." I pause for it all to register in Haku's head. She's looking at me with gaping eyes.

"And I'm the reason you got to befriend Miku and Rin. But right now... I actually entered your dream. I've never done this before, I've never even known I could..."

I pause and look down. I sound so confusing!

"So, Haku... it's because I wanted to protect you. It was the reason I jumped in the dreams, it's the reason I've been fighting your nightmares... it's because... I didn't want you to be harmed. Not even in your dreams."

I blush because I said something horrible corny, but Haku surprisingly throws her arms around me.

"Akaito..." she says in an exhilarated tone. "Thank you. You truly are... the best friend I've ever had."

The best friend she's ever had...? My heart feels touched. I'm not the sensitive guy, but...

I give into her hug and pat her back gently.

When I open my eyes again, we're no longer dripping wet. This mess of water is gone, and so is the yucky wet platform.

I'm in the forest. I'm standing in the forest I've only seen on the outside.

The air is crisp like a cucumber, I can finally feel it. My feet are touching the peridot grass and I feel the light butterfly-breeze.

"Haku..." I start to say.

"Something I've always wanted to ask... this place..."

I pause a second to look up. The familiar azure light is here. It's floating in the sky outside the nearby forest's exit.

Something tells me I should follow it. The light... it's more than enthralling. It's controlling me. It's demanding me to follow.

I run out of the forest and a dazed Haku soon follows.

This light becomes a darker blue than the sky. It becomes nearly cerulean until it solidifies. It's no longer a light, it's a shape.

The color dissolves and I suddenly see what it is.

My eyes are greeted by a small flying fairy with long, trailing blue hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and a crystalline jewel atop her miniature head. She's wearing an elegant blue dress, only the aquamarine skirt is little and spread out like a tutu.

"Hello." she says, in an airy voice, blissfully.

"My name is Lapis Aoki." She flies down to face the two of us who are huddled close together.

**"I've finally found you, Akaito and Haku."**


	4. Lapis Aoki

**Akaito's P.O.V.**

_"I've finally found you, Akaito and Haku."_

...What's going on here?

We're in Haku's dream world. But I don't think we've been inside Haku's imagination. This is an entire seperate world operating on itself. I haven't even been able to control things with my imagination...

Either way, this little fairy has a ton of explaining to do. Lapis, I believe. The name is the only thing I know right now.

"So... who are you?" I ask. What an original question.

"I'm the dream fairy, Lapis Aoki.", she responds and her cute face be omes all stern and serious, kind of like she's forcing it. "You are in the dream realm. You're a Dream Controller, right? We need your power, Akaito! You too, Haku."

Haku and I look at each other with our eyes the size of globes. We're both flabbergasted. We look at the fairy. And back at each other.

"Power?"

"Wh-what!?"

"The dream realm is in danger!" Lapis says, suddenly becoming a few notes more serious. "The nightmare fairies and their dark magical girls are destroying this beautiful place... You two Sweet Dream Stars have to restore this hidden world! You are extremely rare humans and I can't believe I finally found you!"

What? Too much information is going on at once... I'm rare apparently... and this world is in danger...

"Okay, little fairy. Now explain all this in detail!" I accidentally sound aggressive. It's a bad habit I have, even when I don't mean to be.

"Okay... this place is the dream realm." Lapis calms down for the sake of us. "When humans with magic powers sleep, this land is where their dreams take place. Only humans with magic powers have dreams that take place in this realm. This is how we know Haku has magical powers. Whenever she dreams, it takes place in this land."

Haku gasps really loudly and cups her tightly-closed hands to her mouth, then her chest as she speaks. "Magic... powers? I have magical powers!?" her voice rises an octave.

Lapis nods. "I can tell. I could tell right from the start that you are a Sweet Dreams Star."

"Sweet Dreams... Star? What IS that?" I ask.

"Wait, hold on! I'm still explaining!" Lapis waves her hands so fast that I can't see them.

"Many humans have powers, but only very few of them ever discover their power. These humans have dreams that take place here, only they never find out the secret of the dream realm. And a Sweet Dreams Star... is a magical human with dream-associated abilities. You got that?"

I'm still dumbfounded, but I nod. Haku nods too.

"Okay. Now you should know, nightmares in the dream realm are caused specifically by the evil fairies. They're destroying this beautiful land slowly. If the dream realm is destroyed, the fairy realm will fall apart too, and soon the real world will even collapse as well."

"...Fairy Realm?" I say flatly.

"Let me continue!" Lapis flails immaturely like a kid. Once she explains things, she instantly turns calm and serious again.

"The dream realm is connected to the fairy realm. Most fairies are good, and our job mostly is to create nature. You know, for the real world. We control the nature there. But some fairies... are bad. Those are the fairies who cause natural disasters and other unexplainable phenomena. The bad Water Fairies create floods and tsunamis. The bad Earth Fairies create earthquakes and landslides. And the bad Dream Fairies... cause nightmares. They're more serious than you think, because nightmares have a way of destroying the realms. We call bad Dream Fairies 'Nightmare Fairies'."

"Oh..." Haku is behind me, sounding somewhat scared.

"Merli... that's the name of the famous Nightmare Fairy. We grew up together as two Dream Fairies. Back then she was... my best friend, almost like my big sister. She was so kind to me, she comforted me and protected me from all the bad things, and she promised to stay by my side every day, but... but one day..."

The little fairy starts trembling, wiping tiny tears from her little blue eyes. I can tell Haku wants to cry just looking at her.

"But one day, what?" she asks, in a devastated tone.

"One day... the Corruption of Evil got to her, and changed her from the inside of her heart. The Corruption of Evil started mysteriously, but it caused more and more fairies suddenly started becoming evil without any warning or explanation... nobody knows exactly what caused this corruption... Merli, my kind friend, was the last person I ever expected to be affected by it, but..."

The fairy bursts into tears and Haku cups her gently in her warm hands.

"One day, Merli... she turned evil... Her true beautiful spirit became lost and corrupted and now she's just..."

Lapis' words become undecipherable.

Haku lowers her head sympathetically and pats the sobbing fairy's tiny head with her pointer finger.

"Lapis, I... I'm so sorry. But one thing to always remember is to never give up hope, okay?"

I look at the scene wistfully. I feel as if I'm being moved. In the middle of such a situation, Haku is being so kind and sweet again. Her niceness is definitely something more than special, and her tenderness is the kind that would touch the inside of your heart.

"Never give up hope that one day she'll return and be your best friend again. In the meantime, never let go of your memories together..."

Haku and the fairy weep for a minute and I stand by, silently. I'm saddened also. Just how could it? How could evil destroy such a beautiful friendship so mercilessly? That's just horrible...

"And the worst part is, Merli is most of the reason our world is being destroyed right now." Lapis starts talking once she stops shaking. "She's always been a strong fairy, but when she turned evil, her power suddenly doubled. Several times, she had been targeted to be killed. But that's still terrible... Merli was once a good fairy. It wasn't her choice to become evil. She can't die."

Haku and I are silently freaking out, to put in simpler words. One, because that's a horrible story. Two, because what are we even going to do about this?

"But if Merli is killed, there will be much more peace. Most of the destruction here is caused by her, and her powerful magical girl, Luka Megurine. Luka's aquatic powers are brutally powerful and have destroyed entire portions of this land before..."

"...Who?" I ask. "And, 'magical girl'?"

Lapis sighs defeatedly. "Oh... now I have even _more_ things to explain."

She clears her throat, which I would imagine is becoming exhausted by now.

"Fairies can recruit special humans who have acess to the dream realm and turn them into magical girls, or magical boys. Once we help awaken these humans' special power, we take control of them. Most fairies will treat their recruits nicely, with care and consolation. But evil fairies will force a good human to do evil, even treating them badly in the process. Maybe Luka Megurine was a good human, just like how Merli was once a good fairy. But now, Luka Megurine is a dark magical girl under evil Merli's contract, possibly even against her own will. Also disrupting the peace is evil fairy Lily, and her magical girl Neru Akita, who has lightning powers."

Lapis pauses to see if we've got all the information.

"You got it all?" she says quietly, nodding.

"Kind... of. Good enough." I say. My brains are spinning around inside me. Haku appears baffled. It's a little bit hard to tell what she's thinking sometimes.

"Wait..." Haku starts saying. "There were two girls... attacking me earlier. Could they be...? One was yellow and controlled lightning by doing flips. The other one had pink hair, a blue dress, and could control waves with her voice..."

"It was them." Lapis says darkly. "Neru and Luka have been working in a team lately. Water does conduct electricity, and together they're twice as threatening. Luka may be the stronger one of the two, but she doesn't seem as wicked as Neru..."

I nod. "But I think I defeated them!" I say.

Lapis shakes her head. "They're practically indestructible. No matter what they get themselves into, they will always find a way out, they'll never meet their death, or so it seems. Plus, killing them might even be a sin, because after all they might still be good humans inside."

"Ah..."

"And one final thing..." Lapis starts.

I brace myself, because this time she's making a dramatic facial expression. I expect something big to come up.

"You two... Akaito Shion. Haku Yowane. You will become magical boy and magical girl, under my contract. I need you. The dream realm needs you. Become Sweet Dreams Stars! Please, oh please do it! Maybe with your power, you may be able to purify the evil! Restore Merli's spirit!"

We're frozen. Simply just frozen...

"We..."

"I know, I have a lot more to explain." Well, at least Lapis is being honest.

"After I show you your havens, I'll tell you what you need to do. I'll even introduce you to the other good fairies and magical humans you will be staying with from now on. But for now..."

Lapis begins to glow in rainbow colors, spreading her hands out, and flying high above us. She faces us, her entire body floating.

Slowly, she starts closing her eyes.

_"I shall awaken your powers."_

...

* * *

**ENDNOTE**: I feel like I rushed what is a very important part.  
I'm also a bit astonished with what this story became, it was originally going to be just a sweet little Haku x Akaito dream story just for the sake of being fluff, not something so confusing! But oh well, this is how novels are born, right?  
The fluff was at the beginning, but now let's see where this will go!


	5. The Fairy Realm

**Note**: this story really sucks and I have considered giving up, abandoning it, etc. but I keep on thinking about the plot I have planned ahead and I have the motivation to keep going. I may rewrite this entire story one day in the future because I don't like my writing style here, but for now I'll keep adding on to this story the way it is just because I've never gotten so far in a story before. This story is a special milestone to me, even though it does suck.

Plus, I'm very excited about the development of a certain character. It will come in later chapters.

Anyway, here's chapter 5. Sorry if it makes your head hurt.

* * *

**Haku's POV**

"I shall awaken your powers..."

The fairy flies over us, right here on the scenic ledge. She spreads her arms and wings in a swanlike grace, moving as if her tiny body could shroud all of us in her dark blue shadow. Our eyes flutter closed and we're immersed in a soft multicolored light of sorts. The color itself gives me a warm and enrapturing feeling...

"Akaito and Haku, now join your hands."

I open my eyes just a crack and become a bit apprehensive. I reach to my side and there's Akaito's strong hand, ready to fit into mine. I feel warmth spread between us.

I feel the loose ends on me rise into the air. My school uniform's blue ribbon and wide collars. My long hair is floating high above my face and soon, my entire body is levitating, and so is Akaito's. We're still joining hands and we're trying to stand absolutely as still as we can.

Flashes of lights later, I feel lighter, and as if something had awakened inside of me. The fabric surrounding my body feels different, and... I look down.

I'm now standing back on the ground. There's a silver glowing star right in the centerpiece at my chest. I'm covered in a sparkly white-and-purple robe fashioned into a intricate dress right out of a magical girl story.

"Oh, my..." my whisper is trembling at a high octave. Pure magic had just happened to me...

"Hey..." I hear Akaito say.

I glance at him. His clothes haven't changed and he was still in his school cardigan. But I get the feeling something extraordinary must've happened to him too, right?

"Haku is now a magical girl, her typeーthe dream type is very rare." Lapis says in her whispery voice. It's very calming to listen to.

"And... what about me?" Akaito says.

"You, Akaito, are a magical boy with a power that had been awakened from the start. Now that I've awakened you, they shall become stronger, and many other changes are bound to happen to you. For now, it seems they will come gradually."

"Wait, so I'm not a true magical boy?"

"You are, except magical boys don't gain an outfit."

"Aw." I say. It would have been unfair if one of got an outfit and the other didn't.

"But that's part of the beauty of magical boys, in my opinion." Lapis tries looking at the silver lining. "You don't have to wear any certain outfit as you use your power."

"Well, to be honest, I didn't want an outfit change anyway." Akaito says stubbornly.

"Aw, but if you want, I could get someone with a sewing talent to make an outfit for you."

Akaito shakes his head. "I'm just fine. I really don't want to wear anything flashy. I really don't."

But me, I like this dress. I rarely wear anything girly so it'll take a while to get used to, but it makes me feel special. Like an actual magical girl from books and shows that I've always wanted to be. It's like I'm a fairy, or a sorceress or a princess,

My smile simply just won't fade. I turn red. My amusement is almost becoming a bit embarrassing...

"So, are you ready?" Lapis asks.

"I will show you your haven home in the fairy realm. Then I shall tell everything else to you."

I nod, and soon enough, Akaito too.

A staircase made of light rises up from the ground.

"Follow me." Lapis flies up the staircase and we follow...

It looks like walking should take forever, but suddenly we've reached a different floor that had been invisible while we were on the ground... we are on solid platform and the stairs have vanished.

"It's not a different floor." Lapis says as if she is reading my thoughts, "It's a different realm. The stairs were a portal made with a bit of my own fairy power."

"Ooh..." I can't help but to be amazed.

"Welcome. You've entered the realm of fairies for the very first time in your lives."

The somewhat cool air smells sweet, almost like the spice in a decadent pie. The leaves around the wide trees are a cool and earthy blue, shrouding us in its shadows. From the dappled sunlight, I can see the short grass is the same color as the trees.

In the long distance, elegant buildings in various colors stick up above the trees,

"Is that the town down there?" I asked.

Lapis nods.

"We're not heading anywhere near town though, that's where things like shops and attractions are. The houses are all in the havens, which are tiny portions of Lune Town. Luna Town is the town of the four seasons. Many more things await on the outskirts of the haven."

Once Lapis flies overhead, I spot a girl sketching a nature scene on a canvas. She's using a single pencil, yet it's coloring in whichever different color she needed. I eye her curiously; she's wearing a green dress that gave off the same vibe as mine. Who is she? Could she be a magical girl?

"Oh, I spot Gumi!" Lapis shouts welcomingly. Gumi glances over at us a tiny split second, looks back and bashfully kneels over her marvelous work. She's clutches it closer to her and hides her hand as it moves across the smooth canvas.

"Oh, sorry." Lapis says. "She's a little bit shy sometimes about her drawings. But they're really amazing."

I can understand why she'd by shy, because she draws incredibly and was bound to be able to draw attention. The lines flow so fluidly like ripples on the water. I can simply visualize every graceful hand stoke used to create every intricate line...

"Oh, I should introduce her, that's Megumi, last name declassified." Lapis rests a for a minute on my shoulder. "Her nickname is Gumi and she is a popular and cheerful season magical girl. She delivers magic through her art, and is responsible for delivering the seasons in both the fairy realm and real world."

"Oh, so does each magical girl have their own unique way of doing their magic?" I ask, glancing a bit to my right side.

"Yes!" Lapis answers. "Dark magical girl Neru has a talent for gymnastics. Dark magical girl Luka has a talent for singing. And Gumi's talent is art. That's why those are their techniques to deliver their magic. So tell me, Haku. What is your talent? What would your _muse_ be?"

My... my talent? I stutter. Do I have a talent?

Before I can answer, Gumi is now walking up to us with her canvas tucked under her arm.

"Oh, hello!" she waves enthusiastically as her puffy green hair blows in the smooth wind. She seems very friendly.

"Sorry I didn't respond to you right away, Lapis. I was too absorbed in my drawing again. My muse had been super-duper indulgent in itself lately."

I wave back shyly. Akaito stiffly lifts his hand and I smile at Gumi for him.

"Oh, and welcome to haven number seventeen, new magical girl, and new magical boy!" Gumi amusingly puts on a fake announcer voice and does a curtsy.

"It's courtesy of you to to curtsy back." Lapis whispers in our ears. "Or bow if your name's Akaito."

I curtsy, lifting up the corners of my smooth puffy dress. Akaito bows, groaning at Lapis' awkward attempt at humor.

"So... haven seventeen? Are they different ones?"

"Yes!" Gumi says. "A haven is a home for fairies, and a place for their magical girls to stay while they're staying in this realm. Each haven holds... about four to ten fairies. They tend to live in solitude, but to enjoy crowds only every so often."

"Oh, yes! Someone's explaining everything for me now! Keep going, Gumi!"

Lapis cheers and we all laugh a bit. She has a sense of humor for someone with such a sad story about her old friend.

Gumi says "okay" after a fit of laughter and continues.

"In this haven, there's my fairy, Earth Fairy Sonika. There's also Dream Fairy Lapis Aoki whom you already know, Peace Fairy Momo Momone, and Star Fairy SeeU. We have a bit of a smaller population here. And the newest members here are you two!"

"Wow..." I say.

"Okay..." Akaito looks overwhelmed again. He's probably freaked out about having to live with fairies and other magical humans.

"Okay, I'll now lead them to their haven." Lapis says. We follow.

"Okay, bye!" Gumi waves.

"Goodbye!" I wave back and Akaito nervously bows again.

Gumi laughs a bit.

"You didn't have to bow this time, Akaito!"

Akaito's face turns red and he runs after me. I guess he is shy.

Soon we approach a peaceful springs area. The shallow water looks clear and rich and the rocks scarttered about the sides and center are smooth, pastel and multicolored. Exotic plants and large flowers grow around it, lavish vivid koi swim in the larger sections of water, and strange mammals are gathered around the rocks. They look like a cross from a cat and a rabbit, with a feline-like body, and the face, ears, and twitchy nose of a bunny.

Right in the center of the springs area is a girl with curly dark pink hair, cuddling one of the cute foreign animals and rocking it gently. The expression on her face is sweet and innocent, and she grins childishly as she gazes at the animal's drowsy face.

"Um, Lapis. Who is that girl?" I ask as I watch her. "Could she be another magical girl?"

"Oh yes! That's Teto Kasane, animal magical girl. She can control animals. She also can talk to them and understand them on a deeper level than anybody. Since she's good and very friendly, she treats every one of them with kindness from the bottom of her heart as if they are all her babies. Oh, and her talent is dancing. She knows many dances that can calm, lure, or even put animals to sleep peacefully."

She seems so sweet, I think to myself.

After Teto rocks the baby bunny-cat to sleep, she waves and curtsies at us. I curtsy again and Akaito bows awkwardly.

"I'm Teto Kasane. Could you be Lapis' new magical girl and magical boy?"

"Yes." I answer a bit bashfully. "It's um... nice to meet you, Teto."

I'm sill a bit shy, but everyone in haven seventeen seems incredibly nice so far.

"So... what kind are you?" she asks. Her voice is cute.

"I'm... a dream magical girl, apparently, and my friend Akaito is also a dream magical boy."

Teto looks astonished. The bunny-cats that are still awake start crowding around and looking at us with their round beady eyes.

"Dream, really!? Oh, that is wonderful! Our heroes have finally came!"

Teto jumps around spastically, but my smile shaking a bit. Heroes...? Being expected as a hero?

Oh, I'm not good with any kind of responsibility. I just hope I'll be able to follow everything that Lapis explains.

"I'll try my best!" I say, unsure of what I'm even trying for.

After we say goodbye, we pass the outside of a housing area with a lot of objects hanging down from threads. Charms of stars and angels, silver wind chimes, even swing-sets. It's a little bit foggy here as well, and silhouettes of autumn trees are scattered in the background. Many vibrant leaves are on the ground. The starry-print house in the center looks is in the shape of a big dome from ancient times.

A bright-looking fairy with transparent yellow wings and a cloud of puffy golden hair flies ahead, standing out from silver-colored surroundings. Lapis waves and says high, the jewel on her head glowing for her to be seen.

"Hello, SeeU!" Lapis says to the other fairy.

"I 'see you', SeeU."

SeeU hits her face with her hand and flies down in a fit of giggles.

"Oh, Lapis, Lapis, Lapis..." she mutters. "You and your overused puns."

After Lapis introcuces us to her as a Star Fairy, she starts talking of her own magical boy, Piko.

"Piko's shy, he still hasn't come out of his shell yet, not even to me. And as usual, he's taking a nap right now."

"Piko? What kind of powers does he have?" I ask.

"Well... he has star magic. Just like me. We create the stars that light up the sky at night."

"Wow..." I gasp. Creating the stars? The ones I sometimes look at when I'm feeling sad, bringing me peace as I sit under them? How beautiful..

"Well you see, I haven't had Piko for a long time and I don't know everything about him." SeeU crosses his legs midair and sighs. "Plus has special little friends that he talks to even more than he does me... the constellations."

"He talks to constellations?"

SeeU nods. "He talks to them all the time. They say some pretty interesting things, especially Taurus and Gemini. And they always respond to him. But the thing is, Piko barely says a word to anyone else. He's a mysterious boy..."

"Wow..." even Akaito is impressed.

"This Piko sure is on a whole new level." he says.

I nod. There are too many questions to ask and I think I would be able to find out eventually.

"Well... perhaps he's shy." I say to SeeU. "I'm sure he doesn't mean to make you feel any neglect. Maybe he's just shy towards everyone besides those constellations, maybe..."

SeeU gives me a fairy-wink. "Aww... thanks." she said. "I did already figure that as a possibility, but thanks for trying to reassure me. You're very sweet."

I'm flattered. Usually nobody benefits from my help, but...

"Oh, you're very welcome." I curtsy.

"Well, I'm guiding these two down to their haven.

Eventually we get to our haven.

"It's beyond this waterfall."

Lapis uses her magic to separate an opening in the curtain of flowing water, making a cool, cleared path for us to step through. I walk up the crystalline atairs onto the damp rocks and see a shiny, broad blue door that appears to be made of a unique-colored stone.

Beyond the door, is a peaceful room that looks very much like a home. It's carved out of the silvery-blue rock and a natural water-colored light radiates along the walls and floor.

There's carpets and pantries and pieces of artwork on the walls. In the center of the large main room, a broad tree stretches out radially. The pointy leaves are a refreshing aqua and the branches bear mysterious-looking blue orbs. Under the tree at the side, there is a glowing pool of water. They probably serve a purpose, but right now they weren't the main concern.

In a beanbag chair along the polished floor, sits a familiar-looking cat.

"Meow!" it meows a familiar, comfort-sounding mew.

Could it be?

The cat runs toward me on its tiny pitter-pattering paws.

"Smowbell!" I cry in delight. "I missed you!"

I kneel down to pet her on her soft fuzzy head.

"Oh, Akaito! This is the cat from my dream I was talking about, Snowbell!" I beam as I pick her up.

"I know. And I'm the one who brought her here, she's been waiting for you." Lapis said.

"Huh?" I am confused.

"Akaito made that cat."

I gasp. "Akaito, you did? With your power?"

"Wait, but how do you know?" Akaito asks the fairy.

"Because I was there in that room the time Haku was crying. I was hiding in a cupboard, trying to make sure she was safe, only I couldn't expose myself to her. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a cat appeared. That was how I knew a Sweet Dreams Star was behind this. It was you, Akaito."

I look at Akaito, who's face is perplexed becoming like mine.

"Slowly I followed you whenever your prescence appeared. I got a faint view of you. I saw your red hair, red eyes. I heard your name quietly being whispered. 'Akaito...' That's how I knew your name."

I'm still shaking and I realize it's because of my confusion. I decide to speak up and ask a question.

"Now... um, since we're here, could you explain to us what our job is? I'll be more than happy to help save the dream realm for the world, but... is it going to be easy? I mean... that's a dumb question, right?" I realize I'm playing with my fingers again.

"It depends." Lapis says reassuringly. "But I'm sure if you remain spirited, nothing will be that hard and painful."

She taps me lightly on the shoulder and I feel the smallest of tickles. It's enough to make me smile.

"Haku, what you do is give sweet dreams to people." she eyes me and explains. "The sweet dreams from a Sweet Dreams Star are the sweetest kind of dreams. They may change people's view on life, give them a wonderful memory, or even make them realize their true calling in life. Most of all, they make them happy. Your ability to purify nightmares and make them into such wonderful dreams is a very valuable and beautiful power."

Next, Lapis flies to Akaito.

"You, Akaito. Your powers to control dreams should still work. Your power runs on your imagination! You'll be able to do the exact same things as Haku, but I'm sure you know already. After all, you've been making Haku have sweet dreams for the past few days, right?"

I see Akaito's face turn red.

"When somebody is having a dream in the dream realm, you will see a faint outline of that person. That means they're there, but not aware. Sweet Dreams Stars only show themselves sometimes, but most of the times they approach the area and cast the magic from afar. And when a nightmare is happening to them... Akaito, you already know what to do, right? You've done it before."

Akaito nods.

"But... I've noticed a decline in my abilities since I've entered the realm through controlling Haku's dream." he said. "Once I got here in person, my ability almost has disappeared."

"It's just because you're not used to seeing things become manipulated in real life." Lapis says. "Now that you're here in person, your imagination naturally won't accept that the potted plant next to you can fly, or that fact that the dish can turn into a bird. Understand? When you were controlling dreams from the outside, it was as if you were looking at a television screen. Things are much easier to imagine on screens, yes?"

"Ah, I see." Akaito nods.

"But if you become used to thinking in an impossible way, it will be much easier to manipulate while you're in person, okay?" Lapis says. "So maybe you should recite thinking as if you're in a fantasy world. And hey..." Lapis giggles. "You are in one."

"Um... excuse me, Miss Lapis?" I ask politely.

"Oh, i's Aoki. That's my surname." Lapis says.

"Ah." I mutter. "So anyway, how exactly do I use my powers?"

"Your muse." Lapis responds. "Do you have a special talent? Remember how I explained back then? That performing a talent will bring out your magic?"

"Oh..." I hopelessly dig through my mind. I'm an amateur at sketching, I like to sing but I really can't, I dabble in writing and piano-playing, but I can't think of anything I'm truly talented in. I shake my head somberly.

"Sorry... I don't have a talent."

I hang my head and Lapis flies up and touches my cheek lightly. "Don't say that; everyone has a talent! You just need to find yours."

"But that could take forever." I say, feeling like a big nuisance again. "I need to be able to use my power as soon as I can, you said."

Lapis sighs. "Well, that's true. But there is just the thing out there. A magical wand. Unfortunately, they're expensive and I'm not quite that rich for a fairy like me. But if we do find a magic wand, you can start using your power instantly."

Lapis smiles to reassure me that things will turn out okay.

"But in the meantime, there's no hurt in trying to polish your talent in something you like to do. Because for almost all people, their hidden talent also happens to be their passion. Don't ignore this, Haku."

"Okay." I say.

I think about it. I don't have a passion really. All I really want to do is help out others in need. In fact, my one passion was always just to be able to be there for someone.

And helping out others in need was probably the absolute LAST thing that could possibly be my talent.

"Wait a minute..." Akaito's voice sounds urgent.

"Will we be staying here? But what about our lives back in the real world?"


	6. A World of Magic

NOTE: Ah, sorry this is so rushed! I just couldn't wait... I'll fix it later. Uguu, I'm A bad writer!

THIS CHAPTER IS JUST A TRAINWRECK I GIVE UP, (for now) moving' on to chap 7 orz

* * *

Haku's POV

"Wait a minute..." Akaito's voice sounds urgent.

"Will we be staying here? But what about our lives back in the real world?"

I put my hand to my mouth. I really hadn't thought about that? Was the real me still sleeping back in that hospital bed? How about Akaito? Was he still in his room, or wherever he was?

"Right now, you two are here in body." Lapis says.

"But... my body... I'm currently really sick right now." I said. "I'm passed out in a hospital bed and everything..."

"Your bodies have recovered among entering here. The entrance into the fairy realm... it has that power."

"What the heck!? So that means we just mysteriously disappeared from home!?" Akaito shouts.

"Yes," Lapis says. "I'm terribly sorry to say this, but that is true. You'll be staying here for however long you need to be. You are gone from your old homes and that unfortunately means your families and friends won't know where you are. You'll be known as having mysteriously dissappeared until the day you return."

Tears pool into my eyes as I listen. I'm not going back home? My mother is going to be worried sick... she's going to think I've died or missing forever.

"Mother... she's going to worry herself sick."

A tear drips down my cheek. My poor single mother. Me just disappearing... she already worries about me all the time.

And if I just disappeared without a trace, it'll break her apart.

"Home..." I sob and my entire body heaves. "I already want to go back!"

I'm now terribly homesick. I haven't seen this coming at all. The last few days were the very last days of my normal life and I left them without even saying goodbyeーas if I was just ripped and torn off of a page in a book and pasted back on an entirely different one written in a different language. It's all too brutal and surreal for me...

Lapis flies to my face sympathetically and gently kisses my cheek. Instantly, my tears are dry and the choking feeling in my throat subsides somewhat. I suppress an urge to heave and sit, shaking silently.

"Don't fret, Haku." she rubs my soft face with her tiny hand. "Always keep home in your heart."

I close my eyes and take Lapis' words in. More warm tears roll down my cheeks but I'm shaking a bit less.

"And besides um... who knows!" Lapis tries lightening the mood. "Maybe purifying the darkness will only take... only one day or something!"

Akaito is sitting intensely, staring down at the irritatingly shiny ground. He's shaking.

"My parents, my siblings... everyone. It'll be too much for them. Everyone who knew Haku and I... it's too much. My family will go crazy." I hear him mutter.

"I feel a little bit sick." he announces to us, standing up stiffly.

"Oh no..." I say. My stomach had churned itself as well.

"Why don't you two sit down, then?" Lapis suggests kindly. "I'm terribly sorry we had to drag you into this... but I promise, all will be well."

I give a heavy sigh. I stand up to slip my hand into Akaito's warm larger hand slowly, trying to calm him and comfort myself.

"Akaito... we w-will make it back h-home. We still h-have each other..." I say, taking deep breaths and looking downwards.

After a while of staring at the ground, Akaito says "okay", walks towards the large cushioned couch under the glass window, and sits down next to me.

"That's the spirit." Lapis whispers and leaves the room.

It's getting dark outside. The sky is the color of a violet petal and the color is shining strongly into the room.

The small fairy flies back with her innocent disposition and she's wearing her pajamas. They're blue, star-printed and tiny and adorable, like doll clothing. She even has a fuzzy sleeping cap and a mini star-patterned pillow tucked under her arm.

"It's almost time to sleep." she says, stifling a yawn. "Trust me, a good night's rest... it'll be the perfect thing to purify your anxieties."

Lapis flies up with a expression that tries to reassure us.

"How about I prepare some chamomile tea for you two? I'm sure you're quite exhausted from all the changes you've went through."

She goes beyond the room into the kitchen again, singing softly to herself.

We're alone with each other and I can hear his breathing. Or is it mine?

"Haku." Akaito says to me. "Are you okay?"

I nod a bit. "Are you?"

"I'm still feeling a bit sick." Akaito says. "It's nerves, probably."

I nod. "I'm going to be worried about everyone back home... my mother will think I've died..."

I turn my head to the glass window and think fondly about my mother, everyone who had been important to me, even people who have left me long ago. I can't help but to start sobbing.

Akaito pats my hand somberly and pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket. He clutches it as if he's wondering whether I need it or not.

I take it just in case, and once I have it, I bury my face in it and begin to weep.

"I shouldn't cry like this, but... I'm just so worried about everyone."

Akaito pats me on the shoulder and I already feel comforted.

"It's okay to cry, Haku." he says. "Just... imagine when you return home after this is done. Imagine how relieved and happy everyone will be to see us again..."

I take Akaito's advice and think about it. Now I'm crying both sorrowful tears and tears of joy. I take deep breaths and the tears begin to slowly stop.

Snowbell jumps into my lap and instantly looks at me and curls up.

That is right... my kitten. I still had Snowbell too. Her purring makes me feel at ease... the white blob of warmth and fur... I stroke her gently and she moves her paws ever so delicately.

I sit up in the midst of my breathing. This is a beautiful and intricate room I'm sitting in, and I'm still curious about many of the things. But for now, I'll use it to soothe whatever rough feelings I'm having.

* * *

That night, as Akaito stands on the porch reading a reference book from Lapis' shelf, I borrow a bathing-dress from Lapis' enchanted closet and dip into the pacific poolーthe clear round pool of water under the large breathing blue tree with the orbs which I was wondering about earlier. It's called a pacific pool because the water instantly gives a pacifying, nerve-settling, tingly feeling to those who bathe in it. I feel small bits of magic flow through my veins when I close my eyes and let the water surround my skin.

Magic. Could this be the magic of the pacific pool I'm feeling, or my very own magic that had recently been awakened?

Magic, had it alays been my dream. For it to be real, to have the ability to use it. To be able to help others with magic, that had been a longtime wish of mine that had just come true.

My eyes open and I gaze wonderingly at the air. I feel truly magical. I perk up, and as I sit here all alone, it truly hits me. I'm a Sweet Dreams Star.

I will be able to make the world a better place with my own magic.

I'm on a journey to find out who I truly am, making friends, going though a magical world...

Suddenly, I no longer feel like crying.

"Tea is almost ready." Lapis flies down next to me and sits on the edge with a placid look on her small face. "So, Haku? How are you enjoying this so far?"

"It's wonderful." I say, crossing my legs and feeling them float gently back in place.

"...Lapis?" I smile. "Lapis, I'm not going to cry anymore."

I pause, smile and breathe in the calmness of the room. Drip, drip, drip goes the clear pool around me. Dew is dripping of the branches, causing ripples to form in the stillness.

"This place... this realm. It's the most wonderful place I've ever seen in my life. And to be here, living in a fairytale, having magic, being surrounded by beauty... it's a dream come true. I am worried about mother, but... she will see me again. Meanwhile I will make the world a better place for her, and for everyone."

After a pause, Lapis flies up and hugs my neck.

"Haku... I am happy to see you are in spirits."

She flies off. "I'll check on Akaito."

I forgot to ask about the tree of orbs. I gaze up towards it, wondering what the small cerulean bubbles are supposed to be. They grew from the tree, right? They looked like clear blue marbles. When I sit under them, they give me such a calming feeling.

* * *

After I dry off and change back into my comfy and soft Sweet Dreams Star outfit, I sip on Lapis' warm sweet chamomile tea and I end up asking her about the orbs I saw on the branches of the tree.

I'm tucked in bed sitting up, while Akaito is on the bed on the other side, already asleep. What a sleeper he is. He didn't need the tea at all to fall asleep. He snores softly too.

My cat Snowbell is sleeping by my side on her own comfy pillow. Knowing she's around makes me feel comforted.

"Oh, the orbs," Lapis answers, "are Sweet Dreams Orbs. If you sleep with one by your side, you are guaranteed to have a harmonious and peaceful slumber."

The words melt like butter in my head. A harmonious... peaceful... slumber.

The feelings trickle into me as I sigh and close my eyes, picturing beautiful things I may dream about.

"Growing orbs is my hobby." Lapis points to the grand tree shading us. "The Sweet Dreams Orbs tree? It's very rare and was a present, given to me by... Merli."

I hear Lapis sigh. Merli again... I feel sympathy for her. To have such a good friend turned evil...

"Merli was absolutely amazing while she was still good. She was adventurous and ever so brave, more brave than I ever was. She told me she got the seed for the tree all the way from the moon."

"Oh, the moon?!" I ask, surprised.

"The fairy realm's smallest moon, Ephemera. The only way to go there is to wait until it's late September and the moon covers almost half the sky. Then, the moon will align perfectly with the tallest mountain, and a fairy with strong wings will fly directly upwards as high as they can, until Ephemera's gravity sucks them in and they can warp to its surface."

"Wow..."

"Ephemera's surface is mostly water. In fact, one side of it is made of white stone and gemstone. The other side of it is a bottomless seaーuntil you get to the moon's core. They say that if you end up on the water portion of Ephemera, a mysterious building will float to you... only I've never heard of the rumor being confirmed."

My breath had been taken away and I realize when I take a huge gasp of air. Such a marvelous story... I can't believe all this is real. It's a perfect bedtime story to make me dream wondrously all night long.

"Ephemeral. It's a word that means short-lived or fleeting. Ephemera rotates and moves very fast. Also, since you can only access the moon one night every year, that's how it got its name."

"I have a question." I say. "How did... Merli get back from the moon?"

"The Homeland's gravity, of course!" Lapis says. "Oh, and by the way. This place isn't called Earth, it's called Homeland."

"Such beautiful names..." I think.

"So are you ready to go to bed?" Lapis asks.

I yawn right at that moment and nod. I hand my fragile teacup and plate back to Lapis, close my eyes and lift the bed's blankets over me.

"I'm going to hand you the orb now."

Lapis picks one blue sphere off the tree and gently tucks it into my palm. She does the same thing again, flies towards Akaito, and sticks one in his opened palm as well.

"I wish both of you sweet dreams and peace through the night." Lapis' pleasant whisper disperses through the room.

I close my eyes and I feel myself slowly drifting away.

* * *

Early next morning, I wake up to azure air. Snowbell is already awake and is trotting along the floor. She approaches a bowl of water left out and begins lapping from it.

I wake up Lapis.

"It's morning out." I say.

She yawns and stretches cutely. It amuses be because she reminds me of a rabbit.

"Oh, by the way, I thought of this perfect thing last night after you went to sleep. I totally forgot I even had one."

The fairy flies up and takes a square picture off one of the cupboards.

"It's a Frame of Truth." she says, "The emotions in this illustration are the same as the emotions found in dreams. But as you can see, this picture doesn't look too happy, right? It's a gloomy picture.

Indeed, it's a picture of a depressed-looking fairy sulking under a gray sky. It's giving off such a hopeless feeling and impacts me in a negative way...

"So, since the emotion in the picture has to do with the emotions dreams run on, a dream magical girl should be able to change this sad picture into a happy one by using a talent on it. First, try singing to the picture. Let's see if that's your talent."

"Aah... I really don't think my talent is singing though." I say.

"Just try it. Sing to the picture." Lapis says.

I turn red a little bit, shift my eyes around apprehensively, then take a shaky breath.

"In the world even without a color

If it's a voice that reaches the end

The day of passing each other will end as well

Draw a color with your hand"

My voice cracked twice as I hit the high parts of the song. When I open my eyes, the picture hadn't changed a bit. In fact, the cumulonimbus clouds lurking in the sky look even bigger...

"Oh..." I say, a bit disheartened.

"Ah, ah... th-that's okay!" Lapis sputters in an attempt to keep my spirits up. "Your singing wasn't bad, not bad at all! Singing isn't everyone's talent! Maybe yours is well... even cooler? I dunno... wait! There's also the poetry talent!"

"Hm? What's that?" I ask curiously.

"Poetry talents, they make up a poem sequence on the spot, straight from their heart. Their magical words, arranged skillfully, trigger magic! So... say whatever is in your head, spill it all out! If that's your talent, it should work!"

I nod and look intently at the picture, gathering my feelings into my head...

I open my mouth and speak clearly.

"Oh, charcoal skies, gloomy grays...

Lighten up and... um... go away?

With these magic words I say,

Shine some light, make a sunny day!"

I feel embarrassed about my rhyme. I did make it on the spot, but it felt so cheesy and amateur. I look back at the picture and not one other color had emerged. In fact, the gray seemed to have even darkened closer to black!

I bury my head in my hands and sulk.

"Oh, Haku! You're certainly not the first person who needed to figure out their talent, you see!" Lapis says. "That's why they have Frames of Truth like this after all! Come on, it's okay!"

I am overreacting a little bit, but this feels terrible. Like I'm a special case. What if... what if I don't even have any talent after all!?

The commotion we have caused wakes up Akaito.

I hear a groan come from him.

"Hm, what's wrong?" Lapis and I ask. It was a little bit funny.

"Yeah, did you forget we're in the fairy realm, Aka?" I giggle a bit. I just called him Aka!

"Fairy... realm..." he groans.

"Yup, you're a Sweet Dreams Star." Lapis says, flying towards him. "That doesn't mean you should be sleeping all the time though. Now wake up."

But as soon as Akaito sits up contently, Gumi and Sonika burst in the room.

Sonika is a really fast talker and the words fly out of her mouth.

"I was having Gumi help me water the flowers in the dream realm, but... suddenly the water exploded out of the nearby lake and waterlogged the entire garden! A huge whirlpool opened up and I saw a person struggling under it... it was probably a person who's dream took them here!"

To make our reaction shorter, we leave everything behind and rush on the command of Lapis.

"I'll create the portal to the dream realm. We're in the fairy realm."

Lapis closes her eyes and a mystical set of stairs appears right inside our room. Walking up to the stairs, we're right back outside of the forest where we first met Lapis.

In the distance, we see rainclouds.

"It's over there!" Lapis urges. She flies swiftly in that direction and we keep up to follow. We run down a steep hill abundant in clovers, down a flowery trail and down an even steeper hill. I trip and fall and the next thing I know, I get a face-full of flooded water... when I look up, it's a disaster.

We've entered an entire flooded valley... and those must be the gardens right down there!

"All the flowers! The entire valley garden's been flooded..." I cry out.

I hear familiar powerful singing and a huge wave comes and knocks nearly all of us down...

I see the evil Luka Megurine standing wickedly on a raised water platform for a split second before get knocked down the hardest of all. The relentless current pulls back on me and sends me into the chilling vortex of water right at the center of the flooded garden.

"What am I going to do..." I think in the midst if being swept off. The water progresses deeper and deeper and I feel its weight stack up on me as I'm pulled towards the deep center.

"Haku!" I hear Akaito yelling from the side.

"No!" Lapis screams. "Akaito, you have to help her! Just focus your mind..."

"I'll try." he says.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to catch a breath to breathe above the water. The whirlpool quickly swirls me around, and when I settle right at the center, it immediately sucks me right into the compact, piercingly chilling wall of liquid.

And gradually, the whirlpool slowly coming to a stop. I can surface now...

"Akaito..." I think. Is he doing this?

"Yes, it's working! Believing you are able to control things is how you use your ability!"

Lapis had told Akaito to move his body along with his thoughts to give him the illusion that his body movements were controlling it.

"It seems rediculous!" Lapis had said. "But it really should work!"

Akaito was swirling his finger in the opposite direction of the whirlpool as he tried to stop it.

Lapis flies up to me.

"Haku! You know how to swim and you're a strong swimmer, right!?"

My head's far enough above the water to answer. I've never been too confident about my abilities in swimming, although I had taken a ton of lessons for it.

I nod just so I could believe in myself.

"Then Haku, your job is to disguise as a mermaid and save the girl in the midst of the rapids..."

"Mermaid!?" I yell.

Lapis takes out a mysterious small red orb and drops it onto me. The orbs melts into the air, and my legs start to glow and transform into a purple mermaid's tail.

"These Transformation Orbs are very rare!" Lapis yells. "Now go! That girl needs your help!"

I say yes and dive deep into the water, determination and wonder in my open eyes as I spread my arms and push through the pool. In this form, I'm able open my eyes underwater and not feel any stinging in them. I realize I can even breathe in the liquid. I've become a mermaid!

Oh no... from above I see Luka diving off the waterspout she's standing on. She dives perfectly in the shape of an arrow, through the water like a spear and stops cold right in front me.

She closes her arctic eyes, lifts her gracefully long arms and creates a pounding pulse of water that sends me propelling backwards and down where it's now endlessly deepーpossibly even deeper then I've ever dove.

Water threatens to flood into me as I hold on tightly to my face.

Instead of giving up, I flick my tail fin... it's strong. I can easily propel myself back and the tip of my head knocks hard against Luka's forehead... oww.

But the moment my head knocked against hers, I heard her whimper. A whimper? Coming from her...? It sounded cute too. So I guess she IS human. But it wasn't the time to concern about that.

I look down to the center of the pool and see a girl trapped at the bottom, a whirlpool around her keeping her in place, she's struggling and kicking desperately but she's thoroughly imprisoned.

I turn around quickly, quickly enough to give Luka another hard collision with my speeding tail fin as I dive back down and get ready to save this girl.

The tiny whirlpool is more rapid than it looks. It sucks me right in. The vortex expands and traps both of us as I become imprisoned as well...

No, now I'm stuck too! Not even my tail fin is able to produce a strong enough pulse to break through.

Suddenly, my tail fin disappears and my legs return to me. No, the transformation spell must've wore off!

The whirlpool gets bigger until its swirling all the way to the top...

Luka rises up out of the water in a haughty manner and begins warming up her voice... oh no! She's going to sing her heart out to create massive waves all over again and spread her flood across the land!

"Akaito, that's it!" Lapis shouts to him. "Now you can see the imprisoning whirlpool, now you need to imagine it disappearing!"

Akaito is fighting against the direction of the whirlpool as hard as he can.

"Imagine it going the other way... the other way... the other way..." he mutters.

And with a forceful snap of his arm and a stable stance of his legs and lower body, he manages to destroy the entire whirlpool entirely.

I'm stuck at the bottom and now I'm running out of breath. I have the girl in my arms and I rise up above the water. I swim quickly to the starting point with the desperation and determination of an injured dolphin and set the girl down on the ground. She's unconscious and I breathe heavily once I collapse next to her in fatigue.

"Haha..." Luka cackles, even though something is off with the way she laughs somehow. "This poor girl. She doesn't even have a talent."

The word "talent" resonates out of Luka's mouth, triggering two jets of water to shoot from the pool below and knock Akaito and I high into the sky!

"Aaaaah!" Lapis instinctually flies up to get to us.

"Such weak Sweet Dreams Stars..." Luka mutters. "The poor fairy has to put up with this."

Flying and settling behind Luka from the sky was her fairy... Merli. She crossed her legs in midair and fluttered in pride behind her powerful magical girl.

Merli was a rather beautiful fairy, with sleek raven hair tipped at the ends with an airy blue. She had skin of copper and eyes of pure indigo. Stylishly adorned with a striking outfit crafted from dark-colored butterfly wings, her appearance was elegant while strangely sinister.

And sinister she was.

"Poor Lapis, poor poor Lapis." she showed sarcastic concern. "She really thinks she can fight the nightmares we cause. Come on Luka, drown her. Sing with that melodious haunting voice of yours, drown the poor girl and traumatize her for life! Drown those Sweet Dreams Stars as well!"

"Yes, Merli." Luka responded coldly with a stiff nod, as if she were ice.

She leaped down off her suspended platform of hard water, kneeled down to the young girl, and during her pause as she put her hands around her shoulders...

"You are to do no such thing!"

Lapis' voice emanated loudly from the sky above! She had rescued us both and used her magic to have us float down gently like two feathers. By the time we reach the ground, she's exhausted but keeps up.

She throws a blue marble-shaped orb straight at Luka, who ends up collapsing and falling fast asleep instantaneously.

"Go home, Merli!" Lapis yelled right at her in a big voice I've never head come out from her before.

All of a sudden, Lapis is frozen. Her fairy wings freeze in midair and she falls to the ground like a glass doll that had been carelessly dropped.

Leading the way up to Merli, a bunch of the raindrops in the air had frozen and shattered once they hit the ground.

"Ahaha!" Merli laughs in a full, ear-piercing voice. "My ice abilities even reach long range now!"

Looking closely at a path of swiftly-freezing raindrops, I detect the beam of ice heading straight towards me and I dodge it with barely a chance.

I may have screamed in the moment, but I also had an idea!

"Akaito! Just imagine a wall of water, and make it surround Merli!"

"I'll... I'll try." Akaito says, looking as if he understood what I was going for.

He lifts his hands to give him the illusion of control. A few weak waves rise up from the pool ahead.

Merli laughs again.

"Look out!" I scream.

An ice beam is headed straight for Akaito's feet and he jumps to dodge it...

His jump. That's it! The thick wall of water promptly strides out and encases Merli in a suspended tight curtain from all corners.

As soon as she shoots her next ice beam, all the water around her freezes... she's now stuck inside a thick, pointy ice cube.

Akaito and I are gasping in exhaust, and when we're finished, we high-five.

Lapis next to us is beginning to thaw, and we use our hands, which are hot with nervous heat, to finish the thawing all the way.

"Lapis! Look at what we did." Akaito says proudly.

"We backfired Merli's ice abilities and used them to imprison her."

In a few sudden seconds, the entire vast pool of water vanishes, leaving nothing but the blissfully colorful garden behind. Everything is dry and summery, there is no more flood. The harsh rains lift, the sun pops back out, and the warm breeze blows through us, drying us off and making the glorious flowers dance.

I'm still concerned about the unconscious girl. I kneel down to her, but my heart instantly calms down once I hear peaceful snores come from her...

"She's fine." I say, in relief. "She's not unconscious, she's sleeping!"

"Oh, that's great!" Akaito and Lapis respond.

The girl is smiling benevolently in her sleep.

"Thank you..." she says softly and sweetly.

And in a wisp of golden light, she disappears.

"What... happened?"

"Well, she's in the dream realm because she was dreaming, right? She disappeared then because she must've woken up back into the real world. And thanks to you, she forgot all about her nightmare and woke up peacefully!"

I take in the information and feel good about myself. I smile. I know it was only a matter of saving a girl from a traumatizing nightmare, but it was a change. And inside, it made me feel fluttery and accomplished.

But I also can't forget, Luka is collapsed near the tree, frozen like a slumbering ice sculpture.

"What are we going to do about her?" I ask, shivering as I look at her.

"Creating these nightmares, the floods and all. It's very hard work for them." Lapis says.

"Now that we've stopped them, they probably won't be doing anything else today. They'll give up and go back home."

* * *

Back in our room...

"Haku, you did great today. Even if you didn't find your talent yet, you were brave. I was so surprised."

"Thanks..." I utter. To be honest, I surprised myself too.

"We made a good team." Akaito says. "But... I'm now even more nervous. It was mostly our luck that helped us this time..."

"Luck? No!" Lapis says. "It was all your power and wit. That was a brilliant plan to backfire Merli's freezing powers like that."

Oh... I smile sheepishly.

"So, how about we go out in town tomorrow to celebrate?" Lapis says.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful..."

"Yes, and we can even buy weapons!" Lapis cheers.

"Oh my..." I say. Weapons?

"Cool." I hear Akaito say next to me. In fact, he is the kind of person I could imagine welding a sword... gentle but tough, headstrong and detirmined.

It's almost time to go to bed again, yet I'm still wide awake with the anticipation of seeing a real-live town of fairies and magical humans.

"Akaito, are you starting to like it here?" i ask, since I am curious.

"Well, it is peaceful. Mostly. And very interesting. In fact..." he nods slowly. "I... guess I could get used to it."

I nod at him happily.

For now, I'll look forward to visiting town tomorrow.

* * *

ENDNOTE: I had such high hopes for this story but... my imagination continues to fall flat! Hopefully in a remake or so, I'll use all the imagination I've wanted too! I'm also concerned about character development... and surprise? Next chapter will start in... Neru's point of view! Quite a change.

By the way, the lyrics Haku was singing earlier was "Luminous Point" by Vocaloid composer OneRoom, sung by Hatsune Miku. These words were from a translation I found online

"In the world even without a color

If it's a voice that reaches the end

The day of passing each other will end as well

Draw a color with your hand"


	7. Lune Town

**Neru's P.O,V,**

Luka Megurine is missing!

The dark haven's well-known magical water girl had vanished last night without a trace. Apparently, not even her own fairy Merli had any clues to where she could be. In almost no time, the caper became major breaking news. All of our dark allies are in a panic, and here I am stuck in the middle of the uproar for having known her so well.

But really? I don't know Luka at all.

Could it really be? She ran away because she was scared!?

I pace around the haven room with my fairy, Lily. I'm desperately hiding for the whole day because I'm sick of all these questions about Luka. I'm not a witness; I didn't even witness a single thing about it all.

Lily is coming her pin-straight topaz-blond hair and spraying it away with hairspray in front of the chipped gold-painted vanity. She's trying to give her sidebangs the perfect sharp, needlelike shape. She cares so much of her own appearance, but not about this raggedy room we're living in. Like, when was the last time we redesigned this place?

"Okay, are you serious though? Luka attempted to run away?" With the official notice paper crumbled in my hand, I yelled at Lily to make sure she was paying attention. "You just can't run away out of the realms. No matter what, you'll still be in here connected to everything. Just the thought of running away while in here is pathetic. What was she thinking?"

Lily finally put her brush down and started reading the news article printed on the cheap scroll paper.

"Ya think it's because of them new Sweet Dreams Stars though?" I ask as she reads. "I heard Luka lost against them yesterday. Is that really enough to make her want to run off?"

"I don't know!" Lily says sourly as if I'm disrupting her vanity session. "You're her friend! You should know more about her than me!"

"Pfft, Luka's a bit hard to understand. She's so wishy-washy inside. She'll never be as wicked as I am. But still, I have a bone to pick with those new Sweet Dreams Stars..."

Lily nodded, her face becoming dark with wickedness.

"Exactly. Let's destroy them, for Luka." she said in a nerve-chilling tone.

"I'll do it on my own, Lily." I say, striking a pose and walking away.

I go into my shockproof room in the corner and practice my acrobatic skillsーfirst I warm up with jumping-jacks and handstands, then I do backflips, front flips, turns and all of that. I'm so dynamic that I literally can jump of the walls as well. My double handspring backflip twirl is my newest wicked combo. I can create mega-voltage by doing that.

A few times into my training, I'm wondering about Luka. We're not exactly friends. She'd always been a mysterious one. In a negative way. I don't know anything about her, her background, or her motives. She's super wicked at causing despair, but personality-wise, she's just so... meek. For some reason I always could picture her surrendering. And this time, she really had.

We've teamed up quite a few times in the last year, but we don't exactly talk. Ever. Only a few words to correspond our actions. But there's also things I notice about her fighting style. She avoids physical contact, as if she's afraid to directly damage anyone. Her strategy is to drown everyoneーhave the water kill them instead of having to do it herself. She backs away a lot. When I'm out in the front giving it all I've got, she's pausing and stalling things.

Could she be...? No, could she actually be AFRAID or reluctant to destroy people's dreams?!

Such a wimp...! Luka's so strong but she's wasting it on such a wimpy and passive personality! She oughta be on the good side if this is what she's really like.

"Still," I think, "Those weak newcomers are the perfect targets. I'll be get them when they least expect it and destroy them all on my own... yes..."

I laugh and cackle. Ah, I love doing that. My power surges through me faster the louder and harder I cackle.

"Sweet Dreams Stars... I hope you don't mind having Sweet Dreams Scars..."

My lame joke gives me power. I rub my hands together and already feel the intense voltage surging through my hot blood.

It's time to electrify someone's butt off.

* * *

**Haku's P.O.V.**

Luka Megurine is missing!

"Ah, that's great news!" Lapis says as I'm on the bedroom mat, reading the news. "It surely is going to be the most peaceful day ever today!"

"So she ran off?" I ask. "Ahaha..." I giggle sheepishly.

"So much for her being super-strong." Akaito says, sitting in a sturdy cushioned crystal chair with his arms crossed behind his head.

We had all just woken up bright and early. Today was the day we were going to go around Lune Town to explore the fairy shops and restaurants. I simply can't wait... everything is going to be so amazing! Real live fairy culture must be truly magical.

Since my cat Snowbell is obedient and always stays by my side, I'm allowing her go with me. There isn't a rule that disallows pets anywhere in town, and even if Snowbell were to run off, there's always a certain magic abundant the town that can lead her back to her owner. Lapis told me about this; Lune Town has a certain link magic that affects people's paths when they get lost, and make it so they would always find each other again!

Just as we're about to leave, there's a hard knock on the door.

"Hey!" a familiar voice says through the opening. A coy, squeaky giggle comes in succession. "It's Gumi! And Teto! We would like to go with you!"

"I'll open the door." Akaito says as he steps forward.

Opening the door to two brightly smiling faces, Akaito and the rest of us say hello and let the two girls in.

"Oh, Gumi, Teto!" I say. "It would be such a delight to have you with us."

"Mm-hm! We're celebrating Luka's disappearance, right? Let's have a huge cake party in Poppy Diner!" Gumi smiles. Teto doesn't answer.

Gumi nudges her softly with her elbow.

"Oh!" Teto says, strangely flustered. "Y-yeah..."

"Wait a minute... why am I the only guy?" Akaito suddenly blurts out. He looks a bit annoyed so I pat his shoulder a little.

"Well, why am I the only fairy?" Lapis answers. "I have to watch over all four of you! A fairy is like a magical human's mother, so that means I'll be babysitting all four of you!"

"Sorry..." I say bashfully.

"It's fine." Lapis sighs. She soon smiles to reassure that she doesn't truly mind.

The feeling in my chest arrives anyway. I just hate being a burden, even if she was joking.

"Well, I promise I won't get into any danger!" I say to Lapis to reassure her.

Snowbell mews to get my attention. She's roaming around behind me so I pick her up gently.

"Well, Snowbell's going to be the only cat. That'll make Akaito and Lapis feel better." Teto says.

Teto loves Snowbell, like she loves all animals. When I introduced her to Teto yesterday, we officially became friends and we had a lot of fun playing together with Snowbell.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Gumi announces to us. "Let's go!"

* * *

The havens lead straight into town. It's like stepping off a beautiful high hill into one wide, flat valley decorated with cute buildings in many colors and shapes. It gives off such an old, small town feel and the air is fresh and cool.

Just like the name, there's a lot of things themed after the moon. I wonder if that moon is Ephemera. I just don't want to ask Lapis too many questions.

Ephemera... I see it even in the periwinkle daylight sky above. It's huge, even though it isn't September. I'd say it's even ten times as big and as gorgeous as the moon back on earth. I can even see the dark ripples and craters, and I can pinpoint which side is the water sideーthe transparent, glowing one.

We eventually are in the heart of the town, lively and bustling with other magical girls and fairies... Wow, I had no idea there were this many!

"Are these all good fairies and magical girls?" I whisper to Lapis.

"Yes, they are!" she answers. "Lune Town repels bad fairies or bad magical humans of any kind. That's why it's absolutely important to not roam into the outskirts or you might fall into danger! Okay?!"

Lapis had said that many times already. It's a very, very important rule to follow, but as with every rule, it gets old to hear.

"Yes..." I say to obey.

We pass through the initial path into a town square.

"Oh my! Look at this stuffed animal store!" Teto runs across the purple cobblestone to a petit pink hut.

"Teto, did you bring any money though?" Gumi yells in the distance.

Teto nods before she slips inside. "Though I'm mainly just looking." she says, popping her head out again.

"We use a different kind of money here, of course." Lapis says to me. "Silver coins are our standard, but gemstones are also money and are worth a lot more."

I nod and follow behind. I can't help but to want to follow Teto into the store while Akaito is apprehensively holding Snowbell for me. She's just a tiny bit squirmy in his arms... though when she's set down on the ground, she stays just fine.

"Stuffed kinnies!" I enter the friendly atmosphere to Teto jumping up and down, pointing to the display of colorful stuffed half-cat half-rabbit things...

"So those animals are called kinnies?" I ask, touching one of the dolls' fur.

"Mm-hm!" Teto says. She continues to show me around.

"Those dolls over there are of famous magical girls in history."

Teto walks me over to a wall of cutely-styled dolls of girls in costumes like mine, stopping to put her arms to the wall and gaze. She seems to totally adore these dolls and I understand why, they're beautiful. And were they really such amazing girls from magical history? Oh wow... what if there will be a doll of me up there one day? I'm blushing at the thought!

"Isuel of the Mist... Yukiho of Snow, Asteria of Stars... but my favorite is Maya of Beasts! She could tame any animal, even serpents and dragons andー"

"Wait!" I say. "Dragons!?"

"They're nearly extinct now though!" Teto says. "Almost nobody has seen them, so I guess it's almost like the real world at that. Poor little dragons... even though they're not really little."

Teto begins walking out of the store.

"You're not going to buy anything?" I ask.

"I love stuffed animals and dolls." Teto says, "But I'm going to use this money on pet supplies for my family of kinnies!"

"Pet supplies? I might need some for Snowbell!"

I follow her outside and back to the rest group who are sitting on a bench.

"So, where next? I'm kind of hungry." Akaito says, looking down at his stomach.

"Oh, I was thinking of getting something for my cat. Like a collar of some snacks."

"So how about we head to the resturaunt first and save you some seats?" Gumi stands up.

"Sounds great!" I say.

"The pet store? That's in the direction of the resturaunt." Lapis begins fluttering her wings. "I'll lead you all there."

* * *

"Okay... and done!" I finish tying the ribbon collar as we wait for menus to arrive in the Poppy Diner.

I had bought a magical collar for Snowbell. It's power is that it's supposed to bring Snowbell good luck and establish a special connection with her owner. The fairy shopkeeper had designed it to have a bow-tie in the front that looked just like the ribbon I wear in my hair.

"She looks adorable!" Teto says as she stretches.

"I just can't believe this restaurant doesn't have a no-pet policy." I smile as I rub my cat's head.

I hear a pleasant voice come from besides us. Our menus materialize and float down in front of us as if by magic.

"Hello, my name is Clara and I'm a sun fairy!" the little fairy speaks to us from the far side of our booth table.

"In front of you now, are your four magical-human menus, one fairy menu and... one kitten menu! Have a nice lunch."

Service with a smile... Clara flashes her bright, sunny smile before flying away in bliss, sunshine practically trailing behind her.

Wow... a kitten menu!? What a place!

"I already know what I'm going to get." Lapis says. "A dewberry jubilee with wheat-of-autumn bread on the side. Extra dewdrops."

"Hmm..." I open my menu curiously and am greeted by some... interesting foods.

"These foods are, um..." Akaito begins scratching his bangs.

"...Whimsical?" Lapis answers him.

"Yeah..." he says.

Gumi and Teto are chuckling at us.

"Oh, you'll surely get used to eating cuckoo-bird eggs and fried chickenfish eventually."

...Chickenfish?

"Oh... oh!" Akaito's face suddenly lights up.

"Chalupa! Oh my goodness, a plain, perfectly normal chalupa is on the menu!"

Akaito lifts the menu high in the air in liberation.

"Jackpot!"

I freeze with an awkward smile on my face.

"Akaito... do you like... chalupas?" I ask. Though he of course does.

I look back down to my menu to browse a bit more. I want to eat something good, yet a bit... fairylike. I just hope it doesn't upset my stomach.

"I'm a vegetarian." Teto says. "So I'll order the salad sandwich on French bread. Oh, there's some delicious colorful corn in this realm! It tastes like all the colors of the rainbow..."

Teto eccentrically spazzes and melts in her seat.

"Teto... can taste color." Gumi says bluntly.

"...huh?"

"She has synesthesia. It's a human ability, not a magical one. Basically, her perception is all mixed-up and rainbowy and wacky. Each color has a different 'taste' to her. That's why her favorite color is rose pink, it tastes like French bread to her!"

My eyes drop open. I get it, yet I don't.

"I totally envy her! Therefore she can taste colors and paintings!" Gumi flails. "When she sees letters, each letter is a different color in her mind! To an artist, that's... a superhuman ability."

I can understand sort of...

"Oh! I know what you mean! When I listen to music, I see patterns in my head..."

"Oh! Exactly!" Teto responds lively. "That's one of the many types of synesthesia!"

Time passes and we order.

In the end, I end up getting a sushi pack with strange fish I've never heard of, or tasted. One of them has bright blue meat! I'm feeling excited, yet skeptical.

Gumi and Teto both order the same thing they were speaking of earlier.

Akaito's more than happy with his normal chalupa (even though Teto whispered in my ear that they used a fairy-kind of beef and volcano peppers in it.)

Lapis eats her special tiny fairy fruit salad, especially made for her.

And Snowbell is eating normal tuna salad! Especially made for a kitten though.

* * *

The meal really was great. Raw fish here tastes just like the kind back home, only with more flavor and it was much fresher. The soy sauce was called coy sauce, it was dark blue and tasted even better. Instead of wasabi, I had volcano powder. I couldn't handle it very well so I gave it to Akaito to stuff inside his chalupa.

"We should go to Rion's stand." Lapis says, rubbing her full stomach.

We're walking out of the restaurant and we're all feeling refreshed.

"Rion?" I ask. "Who's that?"

"An old buddy of mine." she sits on my shoulder. "She sells all types of things like... weapons, potions, orbs. Except they're made by locals, so they wouldn't be as strong as a professional or legendary. But there's no hurt in buying something anyway."

"Oh, we don't need any of those things, don't we, Teto?" Gumi says. Teto shakes her head, sending her curly pigtails dancing around the side of her face.

"We don't fight, and we already have all potions we need." Gumi says.

"Oh."

Instantly I feel a ping of jealousy for their peaceful lives. Their job is only to create beauty and harmonyーnot to fight away the bad things the way I do.

I think to myself, I wish I were more like them. Fighting bad things is nessecary, only it just isn't a job for me.

"Haku and Lapis can visit Rion on their own." Gumi says. "We'll just split up for a little while and then all meet back in time to see... hm? How about a play at the theatre?"

"Oh, Gumi! Akaito!" Teto eagerly tugs on the corner of Gumi's flowery green garment. "How about we all ride the huge rollercoaster while we wait for the others?,

"I'd love to! Let's go!" Gumi clasps on to Teto's hand.

Akaito becomes stiff, shifting his head around and looking apprehensive.

"Um... I'm going to go with... Haku." he suddenly began straying away from the two.

"It's important for me to have equipment, in case we need to fight again soon."

I eye Akaito curiously. Is he... afraid of rollercoasters? He just acted as if he really didn't want to ride with them...

* * *

Rion's stand was located around a few turns, beyond a woodsy part of town, in a grotto surrounded by tall wintergreen trees... That's when I expected Rion to be kind of a shady fairy... Lapis seems to trust her, regarding her with that bright face of hers... so we should trust her too, right?

Though when we arrive, I am greeted by a face that's unexpectedly bright, smiling with amusement and pure delight. The small fairy running the stand has orchid hair that swings around her tiny face and body in two long pigtails. Her dress of many colors whooshes and swooshes as she rises up to wave to us in the distance.

"Welcome!" she beams as we get closer. "I'm Rion Tone!"

Rion winks and strikes a pose, balancing on the counter with one foot, flashing peace symbols and winking at us.

"Whoah..." she begins to lose balance, her tiny body toppling over before her crystalline indigo wings flutter to her rescue. In the process of her fall, she tugs on a string that separated the shiny velvet curtain behind her.

"Haha, just joking!"

She continues her spontaneous flight, flying up to the merchandise she had hidden behind the curtains.

"Ah! So... Lapis is here... so that means that..."

Rion gives a shaking gasp as she lifts her arms up to her head.

"You two must be... you must be the news Sweet Dreams Stars I've been hearin about! The ones who chased away Luka... Meringue! Or 'Margarine'... or 'Migraine'... or whatever her name is!"

I look at Akaito and turn a bit red. What kind of news have been spreading around about us, now?

"I'm here to get a starter magic wand for Haku here." Lapis says. "I'm afraid that... she hasn't found her talent yet, so..."

Lapis slumped down in sympathy for me and I waved my hands for her to stop. I hated feeling like a nuisance...

"Magic wand?" Rion's eyes grow big. "Comin' right up!"

The spastic fairy leaps up, grabbing a long wand with her tiny body, and flying it back down swiftly.

"Whew..."

Despite it being a weak wand, it is rather stunningly beautiful. Its structure looks purer than pure crystalーso transparent and reflective that it appears to be made of soft ethereal light. Violet ribbon is tied into perfect bows around the sides of the long handle, perfect to fit in the grip of one's hand. At the tip of the wand, a star-shape glimmers in all different colors of the rainbow.

"It's so... beautiful!" I clasp my hands to my face, bend down, and simply just gaze. When I move my eyes, I see the star at the tip reflecting a different color each time.

"This wand is equipped with three spells. But there could be more that hadn't been discovered yet. But for now, we're only sure of three spells."

Rion's tumultuously-pitched voice suddenly evens out as she gives me a lecture.

"You simply wave it around dynamically while saying the words of a spell. I'll show you."

Rion takes out a scroll that was tucked into the cabinet next to merchandise.

"If you are hurt, the first spell is a healing spell. For this one, you point the wand upwards with both hands. Close your eyes and relax until you feel warm and fuzzy inside. The warm and fuzzy feeling is actually magic from you that will activate the wand's power!"

"Wait... so when I feel warm and fuzzy tingles, they're from..."

"Yep, magic!" Rion answers my question. "Fairies often travel to the Homeland too. And from there we can sneak behind humans, pat them on the shoulder and give them that feeling. If you've ever felt it back home ever so suddenly, that means that a fairy had touched you!"

I nod, taking it all in.

"Oh, the spell. Yes... okay. And then you have to chant the spell written on the scroll."

I open the scroll and start reading from the top.

-Ancient Healing Spell-

_Pure mahou chikara, I summon thee_

_Watashi no karada ni, restore life to me_

_Sano dolor, magus cantus!_

"Huh..." it's very confusing!

"Only a little bit is in Japanese, but..."

"There's Japanese, English, and Latin in this spell." Rion says to me. "Anyway, that's the healing spell. The second one... oh, it's even worse. It's all in Latin, and it's twice as long. That spell is the purification spell. It's designed to purify evils, but... this is a weak wand. Don't expect it to purify evil fairies or dark magical girls."

"Oh..." I suddenly feel a lot of responsibility on me. "So what's the third spell? Please tell me it's simple!"

"Oh, it is in fact the simplest of all!" Rion winks cheerfully and I suddenly feel a lot better.

"Sleep Imprison! Puts anyone to sleep instantly! All you have to do is... wave that wand at them, make sure the star-shape has their reflection within it... blink your eyes once and say 'Sleep Imprison!'"

I nod...

"Enjoy your free wand!" Rion says.

"What about me..." Akaito musters his courage to ask Rion.

"Oh... Akaito. It would be unfair after all, wouldn't it... oh!"

Lapis rubs her tiny palms together like she got an idea.

"How about... an enchanted chili pepper plant? I know you love chilies Akaito!"

Akaito's mouth suddenly falls open in bliss.

"You'd do that... for me!?"

He's acting animated now, which I consider rare for him. Rion and I laugh at him.

"Yes! The chili peppers here... if left uneaten, they can produce fire magic! If you hold one in your hand and visualize the flames, each pepper will become a floating fireball!"

Akaito raises an eyebrow.

"But... it wouldn't be good if my chalupa catches fire, now would it?"

Lapis laughs. "If it's been cut, the magic will wear off! You can eat your spicy chalupas without any worries, bud."

Lapis pays Rion, we wave goodbye and walk away.

As we make our way down the forest again, the air suddenly feels a bit... peachy.

I smell something tarty, decadent, sickeningly sweet... Suddenly I slow to a dizzy, droning stop.

The smell engulfs me. My eyes flutter shut ever so slowly. Every single of my senses slowly wanes away, leaving me with my overwhelmed sense of smell.

It's just me and the scent. The lustrous, beckoning scent...

"I haven't had dessert after I ate... now that I remember."

My stomach rumbles with the velocity of an earthquake.

My feet suddenly move... carrying me in the direction of the scent...

I can't see anything, I can't hear anything. I only feel the vibrations of my growling, demanding stomach and smell this delicious, mouthwatering... aroma.

I feel my hands slipping past tree bark, only I don't care. Pine needles fall on my face and arms and sudden chilly atmosphere bathes me. I'm shivering but I don't care...

...

...

I hear a scream, piercing through the crackling air! Lights explode amid the blackness, shocking colors... another scream... wait, the screams are mine...

I fall to the ground and my eyes slowly, slowly, flutter open like a crippled butterfly with an injured wing.

I'm greeted by a sinister pair of sharp golden irises and another bolt surges through me.

Neru.

The girl is looking down at my trembling face, mounting her sharp heels on my squirming thigh. Everything is pitch black except the glowing Neru. She lets her ominous expression do the talking.

"...Hello."

She says the word after the pause and kicks me back. Before I can scramble up or even yell, a cage collapses over me and I'm suddenly surrounded by thick iron bars.

Neru holds up a pink orb.

"Sweet Scents Orb. Puts any human with a sweet tooth in an unexplainable trance."

Neru tosses the orb aside as if it were trash.

"That human with a sweet tooth happens to be you." Neru puts her hand to her hip and rolls her glowing eyes upwards to the cover of trees. "Gee, and to think I actually put such a stupid, useless orb to considerable useーCapturing. You."

The final two words of her sentence cut daggers through me as if they are knives and I am butter.

"So pathetic." Neru gives her grating cackle and suddenly, I remember exactly what I'm gripping so tightly in my dominant hand.

My wand.

I pull it up and look to its gleaming surface, mentally entrusting it to be able to get me out of this mess.

"Oh, what the heck is THAT? A weak wand? Your ONLY power?" Neru's voice snaps my train of thought like a branch being stepped on.

My smoldering humiliation rises and slowly becomes something else.

"No!" I yell on a whim. "This wand isn't my only power! I have the powers of... a Sweet Dreams Star, and the power of my determination! And unlike you, I use them for good!"

My face becomes bright red and tears highlight my eyes.

"Then let's see these so-called powers.."

Neru smirks, and at an unexpected moment she leaps high into the air, sending a sharp, blinding flash of light soaring right at me.

Even though I shriek again, I manage to dodge the volt by leaping to my side, throwing my lanky body onto the mossy ground and curling up in place as fast as I can.

I remember as soon as the cold ground brushes against my face... Sleep Imprison. It was a simple spell, right?

I focus my vision up and Neru is cartwheeling, becoming brighter and accumulating heavier charge every time she tumbles nimbly across the pitch black scape. I think fast, figuring that she is charging power so that her next flip would send a volt like nothing else.

I rise up quickly, even though my legs are shaky, I raise my wand gallantly in front of me.

"Sleep... Imprison." I say the words clearly.

I gasp in despair and heavy panic when it doesn't work. Neru is slowly coming to a stop with her charging technique...

"Sleep Imprison!"

The words come out loudly and clearly, causing Neru to glance my way.

She leaps up for another handspring and I flinch hard...

Miracolously, and very suddenly, the edge of Neru's outfit gets caught on a sturdy low branch during her leap. It suspends her right before she can even curl, and for a few seconds, she kicks and dangles.

"Augh!" she yells as all the voltage she charged up disperses instantly and erratically across the thick forest surrounding. Everything turns from back to blinding white and a whimper escapes my lips.

Then from the unsettling white, everything turns into a glowing diamond-dust scape...

Every single tree nearby starts to glow, illuminating this forest that completely clocks out the sun. Finally, I can see better so I aim my wand towards Neru with perfect accuracy.

"Sleep Imprison." I speak in my clearest voice.

A swirly white mist secretes from the very tip of the star on my rod. It glimmers in the cool tarty air adn reaches Neru quickly.

The gold eyes clamp themselves shut, and still stuck on the tree branch, Neru's body folds up in half as she enters her sudden, deep slumber.

"I did it..."

I lower my wand, take in my first true deep breath in ages, and look around at the illuminated trees in awe.

The trees must have magicーnormally such voltage would start a raging forest fire. Neru and I would've been engulfed and seared to death in an instant.

But these trees... they are glowing, glimmering, sparkling even. Like Christmas trees, only the branches, the pine needles and all are glowing like the soft white lights.

I'm calm now, but the problem now is... I'm still stuck in a cage.

If I yell for help... no, I might wake Neru! So I couldn't yell...

Panic begins to pour back into me like hot water, making me fidget again.

As soon as I'm about to panic, I hear familiar voices yelling to me from within the thick forest, in the opposite direction from Neru.

"Haku! Haku! Are you here?"

"Yes!" I yell strictly towards that direction.

Soon, I see Gumi, Akaito, little Lapis, and Snowbell, carried in Akaito's arms.

They emerge through the murky darkness quickly with worried and frantic faces. Suddenly, they see me in the midst of all the glowing lights and become relieved.

"Haku!"

Akaito collapses in relief, and Gumi runs straight towards me as if she was to give me a hug.

She suddenly stops cold once she realizes I'm stuck in a cage.

"Haku! What happened?"

I sigh. I was surely more than a nuisance this time.

"Neru lured me here with a spell and tried to fight me. I put her asleep with my wand and there she is, hanging off that branch..."

Gumi bursts into laughter.

"Oh my... how did you get Neru to stick onto that tree?"

"I... she did it herself, haha."

Lapis murmurs to Akaito.

"Akaito, the magical seed..." she says.

"Huh? This?"

Akaito takes the tiny bag out of his pocket, the one that contained the magical pepper seed from earlier.

"Akaito, to get Haku out, you're going to have to give up your seed. Is that okay?" Lapis asks.

"Hm?" Akaito looks disappointed, but the look soon is replaced with agreement and a bit of confusion.

"The seeds of the pepper plants have been known to be able to make heat magic. Yes, heat so hot that it can melt iron... but in the process, the seed does vanish."

Akaito and I look at each other bewildered.

"Hold the seed to the iron." Lapis calmly says.

Akaito nods and instantly does it. I feel guilty deep inside. He won't have a magical pepper plant now and it will be all my fault.

"Now, I've memorized this spell, luckily. You need to whisper... 'Magnus Aestus'."

"Magnus Aestus..."

Akaito whispers in his low voice, and the iron becomes a furious shade of red, then a searing white. And ever so suddenly, without even combusting or breaking down, the cage surrounding me becomes hot white liquid, falls like rain, and absorbs itself into the mossy ground without a single ignition.

"Wow..." I walk forward warily, but now that I'm out, I hug Akaito tightly. He seems a little thrown off at my hug, but soon wraps his arms back around me. I hug Gumi, I pick Snowbell up back in my arms, and give Lapis a gentle warm touch with my pointer finger.

"You are such good friends... all of you." I smile.

"Now let's get going, before Neru wakes up."

In the tight group we were, we began to depart the area of glowing trees, back down to the broodingly quiet and dark depths of the woods... I'm dumbfounded that I really walked through this place all while I was being hypnotized.

"I feel as if we are... missing a person." I say.

Seconds later, a scream comes from behind me. It sounds like Gumi.

"Teto!"

Everyone gasps suddenly. Teto! When did she dissappear?

"Gumi, when was the last time you saw Teto? You and her did go of on your own, right?"

"I... oh my gosh! Teto... she left right in the middle of the theater performance we watched! It was all about two friends who had forbidden friendship, and it made me cry so hard... that's why I was all disorientated when I left the theater. That's when I bumped into you, and you two were searching for Haku! I decided to help and completely forgot about Teto!"

"So you were watching a performance, and the last time you saw Teto was before she left in the middle?"

Gumi turned extremely red and nodded.

"Oh... I'm horrible, so horrible! Ever so horrible!"

Gumi buries her face in her hands and I pat her arching back to give sympathy.

"Everybody makes mistakes." I say. "Teto... I have no idea where she ran off to, but... we will find her.

* * *

**Teto's P.O.V.**

I couldn't hold in all the worry anymore.

Especially because of the play we were watching at the time I decided to flee. It just HAD to be about forbidden friendship, huh?

I realize how stupid I really am. I should've stuck around for the rest of the play to see how it ended! Did the Forbidden Friends get to be together? How? How did they break the bind that held them apart?

Oh, if only I had found out!

Then I would have at least a clue of how Luka and I could be friends without boundaries. Without having to keep a secret from everyone, including even my own fairy.

Oh, Luka... where could you be?

Everyone is wondering why you went missing, Luka. But I know why. It's because you couldn't take the stress of being a dark magical girl anymore.

Your pure and sensitive heart couldn't take the pain, guilt and despair anymore.

You need me, don't you? I'm worried sick about you, Luka.

I need you too.

I need to follow in your footsteps and find you. Where could you have run off to?

I will find you, Luka.

Even if I am a good magical girl, and you are a dark magical girl... we're friends.

And friends always help each other in times of need.


	8. Forbidden Friendship

**Teto's P.O.V.**

I have to find her, even though... even though I'm running away!

I can't be in this state of worrying any longer!

Even though it's forbidden, a friend is a friend.

And I know exactly where she'd be.

On the deep outskirts, there's an area where the lake floods the path and at night, you can see curious things illuminating the clear water from down below. Nocturnal jellyfish.

The ocean is barely a distance away, and the jellyfish are here from their path into the sea.

I was exploring this area once, mesmerized by all the colorful fireflies and glowmoths. I hadn't realized how far I had strayed from the park until I realized that... well, it no longer looked like civilization.

At that time, I was a bit... rebellious? More like mischievous. I guess childish would truly be the best word.

I soon found a cavern right next to the clear stream, became a little curious, and entered it.

Inside the open tunnel, there were crystals aligning the walls. It wasn't dark because moonlight shone in through a wide hole in the celing, shining on the pool of water at the center which the wide tunnel lead to.

That was the place where I first met her. Luka Megurine.

Back then, I was a newcomer and had no idea she was Merli's magical girl.

I was exploring through the glowing entrance in reverie, when a hauntingly gorgeous voice echoed throughout the opalescent walls, straight into my ears and my mind.

"What a voice..." I had thought. I still remember every detail my senses picked up from then on. The excitingly cool tingle of the shadows and darkness. The rich smell of the air...

I found the tunnel's exit, wide eyes meeting the illuminated pool right at the center. That was when I saw her, standing on the water as if she were weightless.

The full white moon shone on her, making her look somewhat like an angel, or something I thought was even more beautifulーa moon jellyfish. Her flowing dress billowed out like one, making her look like such a fragile and rare beauty.

The sang without noticing me, and in the midst of her beautiful high note, she opened her eyes and I saw their ethreal shade of early-nighttime blue. She must have saw me, gazing at her.

That was when she suddenly clutched her hand to her chest, took an embarrassed gasp and stopped singing. Her divine voice came to a complete stop and even the echo around it ceased itself just as fast.

"No... keep singing, please." I said, softly.

Her concentration must've broke as well; the water she was standing on soon gave way and sent her toppling and splashing down the cold pool with an explosion of water.

"Oh!" I started running towards her.

"Please, I am fine." she sheepishly swam to the surface which was illuminated by the moon and looked at me with those pretty eyes. It was more gorgeous than any scene out of a movie.

But I saw it in her face that moment. Her look was distant and wistful.

"Why... why are you here all alone?" I asked her, concerned.

"Oh... just to practice singing." she answered.

I could already tell that was not the whole story.

"You just seem... kind of lonely." I blurted out. It was my habit.

"I'm not telling." she said again. Oh, so she was hiding a different reason after all.

And I had a feeling it was weighing her down. I could tell from the wistful tone in her singing alone.

"But... I will be your friend! I will help." I say. "Everybody deserves to have a friend, no exceptions!"

Everybody deserves a friend! That's my number one rule!

Then Luka finally went with the truth.

She was shaking the whole time as she told me, on the edge of tears and totally unlike how I would imagine any dark magical girl.

_Dark Magical Girl._

She told me her name, about how it was against her own will that she was bad, and about how she hated every moment of causing nightmares and despair.

She poured her heart out, and I understood. She hated this.

Luka Megurine had a heart, and underneath it all it was indeed a beautiful one.

"Don't talk to me anymore." she said bitterly. "I do not see why you would even want anything to do with me, knowing I'm a dark magical girl who causes nightmares and disasters. Nothing good will come of being friends with me..."

Right at that moment, I had hugged Luka tightly without realizing. It had been my instinct.

"You deserve to have friends," I say after I parted from her. "You may be dark, but... I believe you aren't. Your heart... it's still pure, underneath what you've been forced to do. You deserve a friend, and I'll be hereー"

"Do you even know what you're saying!?" At that moment Luka slapped me, yet I also couldn't blame her. I was committing a forbidden act just talking to her. What would all the others think?

"We can't be friends." she said coldly. "We simply just can't. I shouldn't even be talking to you, neither should you be talking to me. We should be fighting, hating each other, wishing each other would die..."

I took a breath and held my hand out.

"But we aren't, right?" I said clearly.

Luka eyed me and I saw that tears were in her eyes.

"We _aren't_ fighting, or hating each other. We're becoming friends and I think that's great. Please, Luka... you don't have to be alone."

As I talked, I noticed Luka trying hard not to cry. Her face was red and her crystalline eyes looked like they were melting out the sides. As if all the loneliness inside her was finally breaking through her tough shell and seeping out.

I threw my arms around her and for a short while, she sobbed. She choked and sputteredーshe was a complete mess.

"There, now don't cry."

As an animal magical girl, I had a tenancy to pamper things that were poor and lonely. I wondered if I had overloaded Luka with my caretaker instincts.

Luka got herself together quickly and talked about how betraying Merli and becoming good would kill herーit would make her heart stop beating.

It was a well-known rule. Any magical girl who disobeys the morals of their fairies will instantly drop dead. Therefore it was terrifying to even think of committing such an act.

"Becoming good would mean I'd have to face death... life to me is such a valuable thing that death would be the last thing I want. But the other last thing I would want is to keep on living like thisーcausing pain for everyone..."

"Stay alive." I whispered.

Luka nodded.

"But... don't worry. I'm determined. I will find a way to have you escape from this nightmare..." I say.

"How?" Luka said.

"Don't be so negative!" I yelled. "But I promise, somehow, someway, I will help you... I will free you!"

* * *

_"I will free you..."_

The words I said continue to echo in my head as I make way to the caverns through the inky dark night.

"But what if she's not there?" I think. I instantly become more worried.

I gulp, stumble into the cavern, feeling the most air choke me and cold rattle me...

"Luka!" I whisper as I run.

Right before I reach the center, a familiar voice resonates all around me like engulfing water. It's a hum, but a powerful and gallant hum.

That voice could only belong to one person...

"...Luka." I murmur quietly.

My voice bounces off the walls and echoes ever so gently. But the lone figure standing near the center of the caverns still managed to pick up the sound.

The humming stops in an instant.

It's her! She turns around and shows me those crystal-blue eyes, looking slightly more like broken glass then the last time she turned around to me... a chill of wistfulness settles in the pit of my stomach.

"Teto."

Her voice is like rippling water again.

Before I can expect her too, she dashes to me promptly on her light shaking feet.

"Teto!"

Before I have time to react, she throws her arms around me and trails down to the cool moist ground, trembling with an emotion I can't quite make out.

I say nothing.

I merely just pat her gently on the smooth tip of her head.

After a soundless, still eternity, she talks.

_"I'm sick of hurting people."_

She breathes in deeply.

The stillness continues.

I feel chilly inside.

She's evil. And aside from just being there for her, giving her relief from being hated and being forced to hurt people...

There isn't really anything I can do for her.

I'm still frozen.

I don't know what to say.

She's crying.

She's been evil for years; her heart is giving away from all of this.

Her heart...

"Luka, no matter what, I always want your heart to be beating. Never give up... on life, Luka. I was worried... sick about you."

Tears are sliding down my cheeks. They're cold. I brush them away with my wrist.

I slide down and wrap my arms around Luka.

"Teto... you're my only true friend. The only one who knows my true self..."

She trembles as if she's fighting tears...

"And I'm so happy to see you..."

We hug for a moment and let our tears out.

"The newcomers..." Luka started saying after a while. "I was so scared of hurting them when I did and I went easy on them on purpose. I was glad Neru wasn't there, because when Neru is, I become pressured by her to make them feel real pain..."

Luka sighed again. We were now both taking a dip in the purifying cold water together to calm our nerves.

"I even wanted to be friends with the newcomers but I couldn't... I know. So that's when it got too much for me and I ran away. I wanted to be away from being evil, from being hated and dangerous..."

I nod wistfully. I'm feeling her pain but I can't sympathize or help. I think about the story she told me, of how she became a dark magical girl in the first place.

Three years ago, she was a normal, lonely girl who made friends with a fairy she found outside one day. The fairy's name was Iroha, an autumn fairy. She was warm, sweet, and Luka's only friend. Yet she was sickly, and when the season became winter, Iroha passed away from weakness.

That was when Merli came in. Luka found her the exact same spot she found Iroha, when she told her that if Luka ever wanted to see Iroha again, she had to make a contract and become a magical girl under Merli's rule.

Years have passed and still there was no sign of Iroha returning...

"She tricked me, Merli did." Luka had aways said.

"But maybe you will one day see Iroha again!"

I always told Luka that to keep her hopes up. Having one's hope up was a great thing, I thought. It's a happy feeling, isn't it?

"Luka." I say to her in the moment.

"Now that we're both alone together, let's just forget about everything. Come on."

I grab her wrists, gently fold them into mine, lifting them out of the water.

"Let's play!" I grin.

Luka stares wide-eyed at me, almost dumbfounded about what I said. But soon after...

"Sure!" she smiles like nothing I've ever seen. Her eyes sparkle in the moonlight shining through the hole above...

Unexpectedly, she splashes me with the clear water!

I'm so delighted that I fall in a heap laughing! Oof... good thing I can float! Splash! When I fall, I create a splash that wets her thoroughly.

Luka dives into the water, and with dolphin-like movements, she circles around me quickly. Her gracefulness hypnotizes me, and at an unexpected moment, she surfaces and ambushes me with a huge SPLOOSH!

"Using your skills is cheating!" I say. But I'm laughing heartily and so is she.

After we calm down a bit and sit with our bare feet on the edge of the water, Luka sings softly, softly enough to cause smooth, calm ripples to glide across the surface of the flat water, in sync with the levels of her voice.

I close my eyes, take in her singing and the feel of the soft, cool waves sloshing around my tired feet.

Suddenly, I feel like dancing.

I spring up off the ground and twirl around a few times, feeling my skirt dry a bit with every spin. I jump like a gazelle and stand up, grabbing Luka's hand and pulling her up.

She starts singing louder and fuller, and I get more into my dance. I feel lighter than I ever did... I'm dancing to Luka's graceful singing.

At one point I decide to dip back into the water and dance in there, but...

My foot is staying on the surface as if I can glide on top of it.

I look back at Luka, and realize she's using her powers to make me able to stand on the water!

I balance on one toe and indeed, I am standing on the water. I twirl and skip, admiring the round, expanding ripples that form and disperse all around me. I feel beautiful... like a gazelle.

I notice that Luka is now singing lyrics. Listening closely I hear...

My little dancer, a gentle presence creating ripples on the water...

My friend, I feel at ease when it's only you and me...

My light, guiding me to the edge of this darkness...

Luka's lyrics came straight from her heart and they were about... me?

Suddenly I'm feeling emotional, flattered, and... whoa! I lose my concentration and fall right into the water!

"Oooh..." I pull myself up, my outfit sopping wet again. "So much for becoming dry..."

"Oh... perhaps thinking of the next lyric to my song made me lose my concentration as well."

Luka is bashful. It's cute.

"That song though..." I clutch my hand to my chest. "Was it... about... me?"

I look at her with large sheepish eyes.

"Um... yes." Luka says.

"You inspired the song... you were like my little dancing muse... skipping across the water so gleefully."

"Oh... wow..." I don't know what to say. I was just so at peace in this moment, that I simply forgot everything that was happening around us.

Everything that was happening...

"Luka."

I had thought long and hard about this, but I was ready to come out and say it.

Nobody back home knew about any of this, not even my friendship with Luka. It made this plan a risk, but I decided to take it. Besides, she might even find help if everyone does find out...

"Luka... let's both go missing."

"Hm?" She gazes at me, suddenly serious.

"Let's run away together."

That line, I have no idea where it came from.

Luka looks at me if she's questioning my seriousness, but I am serious.

"I want to make you happy, Luka. If we run off together, our pasts won't matter one bit. Also maybe... maybe we'll even find a way to get help with escaping Merli's clutches..."

Luka is suddenly beaming towards me as if I said something to bewilder her, in a good way.

Her eyes are expanding and in them, I see glimmers of hope, a bit of anticipation...

"Teto... let's make this an adventure." she says after a pause, with sudden enthusiasm.

An adventure! A journey! Oh, I love the sound of that! I immediately grow very fond and I feel my own eyes growing wide.

"Yes, Luka! A journey!"

And then reality suddenly had to show its disappointing face to me again.

"Yes, only... what will we live off of? _Where will we go?_ Um... just what is out there? And... just what will happen to us?"

* * *

**Piko's P.O.V.**

I sit idly in my transparent crystal dome on my personal floating chair, surrounded by the vast black sky and sea of brightly twinkling stars aboveーall my friends. They exist up in the stars.

People really don't understand, but these are my friends. The constellations. They're just a little bit shy around the people who don't communicate with them like I do.

Above me, I see Aries, Taurus, and Gemini shining clearly. They glimmer eagerly, as if they want to tell me something. Aries is the first to speak.

"Hello! Hey! Hey! Hey! Listen to me right now, Piko!"

Aries calls to me. Aries... oh great.

As a ram, Aries is quite headstrong, yet very hasty and quite pushy.

"Indeed! We spy with our pair of eyes... hey Piko? Are you listening?"

Gemini chimes in as well. They're the creative and whimsical twins who are always playing little games with each other. For example, I spy. But this time they've spied something they really want me to know.

"You two! Stop being wishy-washy and let me explain!"

Taurus the bull yells gruffly above the voices of both Aries and Gemini. I cover my ears for a bit.

"Piko..."

"Piko..."

"Piko..."

The three constellations all yell to me in unison.

"What is it." I say calmly.

I'm not expecting anything big.

A while ago, I remember Cancer's fascination with clouds and how he'd announce every time a cloud passed by. Taurus announced every time he spotted a cute girl pass by on the lands below. Gemini would call me whenever they had even a mild disagreemnt with each other.

But to my surprise, they say...

"We see Luka Megurine."

Wait... who is that? I need to go out more often.

"Is that that infamous dark water girl?" I ask. "Guys, really? That's news? Of course you can see her from up there. Along with everyone."

"Well, it's news 'cause she's the one who went missing, dont'cha know, bro?" Aries says.

"We spy her with our little eyes." Gemini says. "And she has a companion with her."

"Guys, just tell me everything." I say. I'm growing a little annoyed of their bits-and-pieces way of explaining.

"I'll say everything." Taurus says.

Well, thank you, Taurus.

"Luka Megurine and Teto Kasane are running away together."

"Wha... WHAT!?" I bolt up from my seat.

"Why would Luka and Teto be running away together!?"

"We don't know." Gemini says. "This is exactly why we're telling you."

"They appear to be like, friends or something." Aries shrugs.

"Right now, they're heading to the ocean." Taurus adds.

"How could..." I mutter to myself.

"Thanks for telling me. I'll tell all the others about this and we'll try to get to the bottom of this."

"You're welcome." the stars above say.

I'm going to leave my dome tomorrow. Even though I'm not exactly the one to spread news, or even communicate with people, I need to tell everyone.

Maybe I'll even help sort out this catastrophe...


	9. not a chapter

I'm sorry this isnt a chapter, but I'm going to inform that this fanfic is going to be on hiatus.

This is a really my first big fanfiction! And I'm thanking all my followers and reviewers for cheering me on. I feel quite accomplished having done eight whole chapters and not giving up! :)

By the way, **the newer chapters from now on are planned to be written in a third person, past tense point of view** (the way it SHOULD'VE been written in the first place :()

And you can tell I've been rushing a lot before, right? I'll also use the time to fixed parts I rushed and to make this fic better.

I'll be treating the chapters from now on as a seperate story, a new beginning almost (even though I'll still be adding on to here.)

Luka and Teto are about to run away together into the outskirts of the magic realm! This calls for action and adventure! It also calls for patience and work, since it's going to become epic and I want to write it the best I can. Luka x Teto is one of my favorite Vocaloid pairings, but I won't shove them in your face. The main focus still will be Haku and Akaito.

For now the fic is on hiatus. Thanks of much for reading it though! :')


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